Transhumanism, Posthumanism, and the Haunting of Machines

In Transhumanism, Posthumanism, and the Haunting of Machines, we form questions about what constitutes ‘the human’ in the 21st century, a time when the line between human, animal, corporation, technology, and environment is becoming increasingly uncertain.

The group also considers the relationship between technology, the occult, and the spiritual. Materials include a first person account of rejecting a lifelong faith - only to find a familiar spiritual hunger in transhumanist theory - and an exploration of haunting around technology by Natalie Kane.

Syllabus:

Looking:

• Daniel Pinheiro + Annie Abrahams + Lisa Parra - ‘Distant Feeling(s) #3’
• Sophie Kahn + Lisa Parra - ‘Body/Traces’
• Pierre Huyghe - ‘Untitled (Human Mask)’ Bill Viola - ‘Acceptance’
• Rachel Rose - ‘Lake Valley’

Reading

• Meaghan O’Gieblyn - ‘God in the Machine: My Strange Journey Into Transhumanism’
• Natalie Kane - ‘Ghosts of the Future’
• Ana Texeira Pinto - ‘The Post-Human Animal’
• (Bonus) Rachel Aviv - ‘What Does It Mean to Die?’