Critical digitality: from the virtual to the digital

En este artículo se afirma que la idea de ‘virtual’ o de ‘virtualidad’ pertenece a una perspectiva teórica que pretende explicar los componentes del fenómeno de la sociedad tecnológica de hoy en día. En primer lugar, la perspectiva digital es explicada en su estructura ontológica básica: códigos binarios que organizan un set de elementos físicos o un hardware de acuerdo con reglas lógicas. Por ende, la idea de sociedad en red, comunicación virtual y seres humanos digitales son conceptos que no aprehenden realmente el problema de la tecnología digital en nuestra sociedad. Una perspectiva digital asume la necesidad de entender la tecnología digital en su funcionamiento físico, lo que permite una representación completa del problema y permite el análisis crítico subsecuente de la perspectiva virtual. En segundo lugar, la perspectiva virtual es analizada desde la perspectiva digital hasta en sus principales suposiciones metafísicas: la simulación, como un ideal moral presupuesto, y la funcionalidad, como una idea instrumental presupuesta. Finalmente, la conclusión explica las posibilidades dadas por la perspectiva digital en aras de asumir nuevos retos en el universo digital, en contraste con una perspectiva virtual que podría pre-limitar dichas posibilidades para que necesidades previas sean satisfechas. Por ende, este artículo, antes que mostrar un argumento bien definido, exhorta a la reorientación de nuestras nociones acerca de lo virtual y de lo digital.This paper argues that the idea of “virtual” or “virtuality” belongs to a theoretical perspective that intends to explain components of the phenomenon of technological society nowadays. Firstly, the digital perspective is explained in its ontological basic structure: binary codes that organize a physical set or hardware according to logical rules, therefore the idea of a network society, virtual communication and digital human beings are concepts that are not really grasping the problem of the digital technology in our society. A digital perspective assumes the need to understand digital technology in its physical functioning, which allows a complete picture of the problem and enables the subsequent critical analysis of the virtual perspective. Secondly, the virtual perspective is analyzed from the digital perspective to its main metaphysical assumptions: simulation, as a presupposed moral ideal; and functionality, as a presupposed instrumental ideal. Finally, the conclusion explains the possibilities given by the digital perspective in order to assume new challenges of the digital universe, in contrast to a virtual perspective which would pre-limit such possibilities to previous needs to be satisfied. Thus, this paper rather than showing a well-defined argument it urges a reorientation of our notions of the virtual and the digital

Galactic ecofeminism and posthuman transcendence : the tentative utopias of Octavia E. Butler's Lilith's Brood

Dans la trilogie Lilith’s Brood d’Octavia E. Butler, des extraterrestres pacifiques connus sous le nom d'Oankali arrivent sur une terre ravagée par une guerre nucléaire. Leur objectif est de sauver la planète et les êtres humains qui ont survecu en mettant en place un programme d’hybridation génétique qui créera une nouvelle forme de vie en combinant les deux espèces. Dans ce but, les Oankalis recrutent Lilith Iyapo, une femme qui, ils espèrent, facilitera l’unification des deux espèces. La violence qui a mené à la dévastation de la terre est absente de la vie offerte aux survivants, et le projet porte les marques de l'utopie écoféministe et posthumaniste. Cette thèse examine le potentiel utopique du projet des Oankalis, en utilisant l'analyse critique des écoféministes telles que Carol J. Adams et Vandana Shiva, ainsi que les posthumanistes telles que Donna Haraway et Rosi Braidotti. Cependant, le paradis promis reste hors de portée, et la lutte contre les plans intransigeants des Oankalis est essentielle. Deux des enfants mi-humains et mi-extraterrestres de Lilith endossent cette responsabilité, incarnant une résistance politique comme le souligne le travail de Susan Bordo et de Judith Butler. Bien que le programme des Oankalis exploitent l’humanité, rappelant la traite transatlantique des esclaves, la lutte des enfants de Lilith contre l'ordre Oankali montre clairement que la réconciliation entre les humains et les Oankali et le potentiel utopique de cette relation peuvent être atteints.In Octavia E. Butler's alien invasion trilogy Lilith's Brood, peaceable aliens known as the Oankali arrive on an earth recently ravaged by nuclear warfare. Their aim is to save the planet and its surviving humans, eventually putting into place a breeding program that will combine both species into one hybridized life form. In the pursuit of this goal they enlist the help of a human woman, Lilith Iyapo, who they hope will facilitate their plans for species merging. The life they offer the human survivors is one free of the hatred and violence that led to earth's devastation, and their proposed venture bears the hallmarks of ecofeminist and posthuman utopia. This thesis examines the utopian potential of the Oankali's plans, using the critical analysis of ecofeminists Carol J. Adams and Vandana Shiva, and posthuman scholars Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti. The Oankali's promised paradise, however, remains out of reach as long as the surviving humans are robbed of their agency; struggle against the Oankali's uncompromising plans is essential. Two of Lilith's half-alien children take up this responsibility, mounting an embodied political resistance as outlined by gender and sexuality theorists Susan Bordo and Judith Butler. Though in many ways the Oankali's plans are exploitative, recalling even a space-age reimagining of the transatlantic slave trade, the children's struggle against the Oankali order gives hope that reconciliation between humans and Oankali, and the utopian potential of this interspecies relationship, can be achieved

Ethics in the Anthropocene: Traumatic Exhaustion and Posthuman Regeneration in N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy

This article focuses on N. K. Jemisin’s triple-Hugo-award-winning epic trilogy Broken Earth (2015–2017), using the strategically powerful perspectives of trauma studies and the discourses around the figure of the posthuman, and paying special attention to issues of ethics and the notion of the Anthropocene. It is contended that the main issues at play in the Broken Earth trilogy are the representation of structural oppression against a marginalised minority and the foregrounding of the possible consequences of extreme exploitation of the environment. The article argues that Jemisin’s work draws a connection between the subjugation and exploitation of certain groups and of nature, framing both as traumatic phenomena. Yet, the story allows for a possibility of regeneration in the promotion of a posthuman form of ethics. In short, as this article attempts to prove, the Broken Earth series considers the past, interprets the present and offers a cautionary tale about a the future that makes a strong case for the hopeful practice of posthuman ethics

The creation and dissolution of binaries in William Gibson's Neuromancer: Babylon, Zion, and the artificial intelligences

Since William Gibson includes a Rastafarian Enclave and a theological compass in Neuromancer, this can be used to examine the troublesome natures of the two Artificial Intelligences, Wintermute and Neuromancer. The Rastafarian's beliefs and interpretations of Babylon and Zion, the oppressors and the liberated, add political significance to the Tessier-Ashpool's and their enslaved Artificial Intelligences. Since the Artificial Intelligences are both created of Babylon – the Tessier-Ashpools – and also wanting to be free of them, they are something outside of both. In the Artificial Intelligences, then, Gibson collapses the straightforward dichotomy of Babylon and Zion

Embracing the ‘other’ – Posthumanity as Otherness in N.K Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Trilogy

This thesis aims to investigate how science fiction can engender critical conversations about post-humanity as otherness by close reading N.K Jemisin’s science fiction series The Broken Earth Trilogy. More specifically, it investigates how Jemisin uses science fiction devices to criticise ideological structures, social constructs and the marginalization apparent in the Anthropocene. Her portrayal of capitalistic greed, dehumanization and slavery parallels ideas and events found in the cultural and industrial history of the Western world, and, especially, in the United States. This is emphasized by depictions of marginalization of alternate identities in speculative pasts and futures, which also offer solutions in alternative ways of thinking. The theoretical focus of this thesis, includes discourse on science fiction devices, and how these can be used to evoke processes of otherness. Furthermore, it discusses sites of otherness, in the Anthropocene and Capitalocene, and investigates how these interact with ideas in the trilogy, arriving in solutions in the posthuman. The posthuman, as discussed by Rosi Braidotti, is a theory free from binary exclusionary thought which pushes through anthropocentric ideas of humanity, revealing solutions in embracing otherness. As will be explored in this thesis, these views are paralleled in The Broken Earth Trilogy, where the visualisation of otherness plays a crucial part in establishing the identities that hold the potential to save the world. Additionally, this thesis investigates post- or non-anthropocentric views on subjective truths, by means of the narrative devices that belong to the genre of science fiction which enable the writer to engage in radical depictions of identity. This is, for instance, revealed through the category of the grotesque, which provides an inward sense of shock when faced with the unrecognizable other, but which also urges the reader to reconsider existing notions of identity and otherness in themselves

The Ethics and Impact of Digital Immortality

The concept of digital immortality has emerged over the past decade and is defined here as the continuation of an active or passive digital presence after death. Advances in knowledge management, machine to machine communication, data mining and artificial intelligence are now making a more active presence after death possible. This paper examines the research and literature around active digital immortality and explores the emotional, social, financial, and business impact of active digital immortality on relations, friends, colleagues and institutions. The issue of digital immortality also raises issues about the legal implications of a possible autonomous presence that reaches beyond mortal existence, and this will also be investigated. The final section of the paper questions whether digital immortality is really a concern and reflects on the assumptions about it in relation to neoliberal capitalism. It suggests that digital immortality may in fact merely be a clever ruse which in fact is likely to have little, if any legal impact despite media assumptions and hyperbole

Apocalyptic Visions from the Past: The Colonization of Mars in Dick's Martian Time-Slip

In recent years, climate change has emerged as a dominant theme in literature, with writers trying to find new ways to express how the alteration of climate affects people. Even though it was published before climate change was so pressing an issue, Philip K. Dick’s Martian Time-Slip (1964) deals with the worries caused by an Earth that is becoming increasingly inhospitable, pushing people to migrate to Mars. This article explores how Dick expresses the challenges that immigrants must face in trying to adapt to a new environment and how he uses Mars society to criticize the degeneration of the capitalistic society that marginalizes people who are acutely able to empathize with both humans and the natural world. Among these marginalized people there is Manfred, a child who suffers from autism. Dick conveys Manfred’s conscience through an imaginative language that extends beyond the limits of the human perception of time.  &nbsp