When your long-retired parents invite you (and family and sibs) on a Mediterranean cruise, do you
(a) jump at the opportunity,
(b) graciously accept (realizing, for instance, that this may be one of the last opportunities for us to reconnect with the full nuclear-plus family, or what’s left of it),
(c) bite your tongue (knowing, for instance, what a jet-lagged toddler will be like on one of those mega-crowd eating-and-gawking extravaganzas), then graciously accept, or
(d) politely decline?
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
No, not really… But the Chronicle of Higher Ed has an interesting piece on leading panpsychist philosopher David Skrbina called The Unabomber’s Pen Pal. It turns out that Skrbina has been corresponding with Ted Kaczynski as part of his study of the philosophy of technology.
Posted in Academe, Philosophy | Tagged Antonioni, panpsychism, Skrbina | Leave a Comment »
I received my copies in the mail this week of the book that arose out of the School of Advanced Research seminar on “Nature, Science, and Religion: Intersections Shaping Society and the Environment.”
It’s a handsome volume, whose contents provide a level of cross-cutting conversation that, I think, is rare among edited collections. Catherine Tucker did a fabulous job editing it.
She and I co-wrote the introductory chapter, which can be read here.
I don’t yet have an electronic version of my closing chapter, “Religious (Re)Turns in the Wake of Global Nature,” but I’d be happy to share a pre-publication version of it upon request. An excerpt of it can be found here.
Posted in Eco-culture, Science & society, Spirit matter | Tagged anthropology, cosmopolitics, nature, religion | 1 Comment »
Now that a very busy semester has ended, I can return to the constructive speculative-metaphysical strand of this blog, in which I work out the process-relational philosophy I’ve tentatively labelled Ecosophy-G. A suitable acronym for this project might be “pre-G” (process-relational ecosophy-G), pronounced “pree-jee,” with the “pre” also indicating that the philosophy is a form of pre-articulation, a work in progress, and the “ge” referring, among other things, to the “Ge-” of geography, geophilosophy, and geode.
Posted in Philosophy, Process-relational thought | Tagged ecosophy-G, moment, pre-G, Whitehead | 8 Comments »
With just enough distance to sense that I miss it already (in a brain-body hangover kind of way), but not enough for this to be taken too seriously, I offer some morning-after thoughts on the Nonhuman Turn conference.
1. It was a tremendous gathering of forces, of people doing valuable work with ideas, with knowledge-building practices and critical interpretive and reframing strategies (some of them novel and experimental, some of them simply variations on what academics do). For all that was said (at the end) about how washed-out the academic conference format is, this one was actually a very well-scaled meeting, making possible the kinds of conversations and connections that a larger conference would preclude. It was well run, technically savvy, and enjoyable. Remarkable in many ways.
Posted in Academe, Philosophy | Tagged Nonhuman Turn | 14 Comments »
Bogost’s talk not being streamed (by his request).
Ian Bogost, “The Aesthetics of Philosophical Carpentry”
A talk about philosophy and the objects of which it’s made, in 12 parts (first 11 are pretend)
I. Enjoying This Presentation
II. The Things We Do: Airport tarmac. Philosophers in a lecture hall not unlike an aircraft approaching the runway. Multiple dancer airport performances. Air traffic controllers and graduate students. We do the things we do. Questions, comments. Thank you for flying.
Posted in Academe, Media ecology, Philosophy | Tagged Nonhuman Turn | 3 Comments »
Mark Hansen, “Against Clairvoyance: The Future of 21st Century Media”
Both the future of and the future according to… The status of the future in relation to media. 21st century media.
Book on Whitehead’s philosophy as resource for thinking about 21st century media. Offering a different entry into Whitehead than most of the work that’s been done. Less interested in Deleuze-Whitehead than in W’s interest in quantification, data (datum), speculation (speculative account). Drawing on Jorge Nobo (extensive continuum), Judith Jones (intensity). In the service of a bringing of Whitehead together with phenomenology and theme of ‘sensibility.’
Posted in Media ecology | Tagged Nonhuman Turn | 1 Comment »
The other 99% have apparently gone extinct. (The estimate is actually closer to 100% than 99%.) This I just learned form Joshua Schuster’s talk on “Digital extinction.”
The earth’s biological diversity is also the highest it’s ever been. We are living between the achievement (of speciation to tremendous levels of flourishing) and the projection (that up to half of species will go extinct in the next hundred years, massive extinction being underway). Celebrate the moment.
Appropriate thoughts for Cinco de Mayo (and belatedly for May Day and Beltane).
Posted in Eco-culture, Spirit matter | 1 Comment »
Wendy Chun, “Imagined networks”
I will read quickly and show you more than I read. (Warning to readers: so this trans/re/scription will not be adequate.)
Threat that internet will be turned to a series of gated communities. Spam is another way to say I love you. This danger can be attenuated not through more security but through a wary embrace of the vulnerability that is networking.
Posted in Media ecology | Tagged networks, Nonhuman Turn | 3 Comments »
For what it’s worth, here’s the Power Point that went along with my talk. I changed the title to “Beatnik Brothers? Harman’s Objects and the Becoming-Whiteheadian of Deleuze.” I meant “of Deleuzians” (some of whom were in the audience: Manning, Shaviro, Massumi and Hansen I think). The first two slides are the original title (slide) and the revised one.
Posted in Philosophy | Tagged Harman, Nonhuman Turn, object-oriented philosophy | 1 Comment »
Tim Morton, “They are here”
Talking Heads video “Crosseyed and painless” (dir. Toni Basil, featured the Elecric Boogaloos). Is the non-national anthem of global anxiety. The sound of the end of the world and beginning of history. The first moonwalk is here (not Michael Jackson). The Levinasian “il y-a”, environmental creepiness, but we don’t know what yet. The dancers are suspended in claustrophobic white space, in their world.
Posted in Eco-culture, Philosophy | Tagged Nonhuman Turn, Tim Morton | 6 Comments »
I took a break from live-blogging [added later: I had originally written “love-bloggin” LOL. I won’t correct other typos, but there’re probably many of them here] during the break-out sessions, taking advantage of the time to work a bit more on my own paper, to be given this afternoon. I’m picking things up now with Steven Shaviro’s plenary. Since Steven regularly blogs his work (at The Pinocchio Theory), and since I’m getting a little worn out keeping up with our great speakers, this may be a little less detailed.
Steven Shaviro, “Consequences of Panpsychism”
Opening caveats: We should resist conflating Speculative Realism with OOO; it’s like conflating animals with cats. Also, use of “human” better as an adjective than as a noun.
Posted in Philosophy | Tagged Nonhuman Turn, Shaviro | 2 Comments »