Biodigital philosophy, technological convergence, and new knowledge ecologies

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Springer in Postdigital Science and Education on 11/01/2021, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00211-7 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.New technological ability is leading postdigital science, where biology as digital information, and digital information as biology, are now dialectically interconnected. In this article we firstly explore a philosophy of biodigitalism as a new paradigm closely linked to bioinformationalism. Both involve the mutual interaction and integration of information and biology, which leads us into discussion of biodigital convergence. As a unified ecosystem this allows us to resolve problems that isolated disciplinary capabilities cannot, creating new knowledge ecologies within a constellation of technoscience. To illustrate our arrival at this historical flash point via several major epistemological shifts in the post-war period, we venture a tentative typology. The convergence between biology and information reconfigures all levels of theory and practice, and even critical reason itself now requires a biodigital interpretation oriented towards ecosystems and coordinated Earth systems. In this understanding, neither the digital humanities, the biohumanities or the posthumanities sit outside of biodigitalism. Instead, posthumanism is but one form of biodigitalism that mediates the biohumanities and the digital humanities, no longer preoccupied with the tradition of the subject, but with the constellation of forces shaping the future of human ontologies. This heralds a new biopolitics which brings the philosophy of race, class, gender and intelligence, into a compelling dialogue with genomics and information

Postdigital-biodigital: an emerging configuration

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Educational Philosophy and Theory on 15/01/2021, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1867108 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.This dialogue (trilogue) is an attempt to critically discuss the technoscientific convergence that is taking place with biodigital technologies in the postdigital condition. In this discussion Sarah Hayes, Petar Jandrić and Michael A. Peters examine the nature of the convergences, their applications for bioeconomic sustainability and associated ecopedagogies. The dialogue paper raises issues of definition and places the technological convergence (‘nano-bio-info-cogno’) - of new systems biology and digital technologies at the nano level - in an evolutionary context to speculate, on the basis of the latest research, future possibilities. The paper also reviews these developments within familiar landscapes of posthumanism and postmodernism, raises the question of political bioeconomy, and the role of postdigital education within it

How the informed relations between physical, digital and biological dimensions are changing the design practice, as well as the sustainability paradigm

In the “century of biotechnology”, a new form of “bio-digital industry” is emerging in which, thanks to increasingly sophisticated and digitized technologies that allow engineering and production on a biological quantum scale, it is possible to analyze and reproduce the generative, chemical, physical, and molecular processes underlying natural mechanisms. Inheriting methodologies and technologies from biological fabrication, bio-digital practices foster a new material-based biological paradigm that, bringing biomimicry to a material level, allows designers to observe substances and logic used by nature for assembling and structuring its materials, developing more sustainable and strategic ways for artifice manufacturing, as well as replicating complex, tailored, and emergent biological qualities. The paper aims to describe the new hybrid manufacturing techniques, demonstrating how the transition from form-based to material-based approaches also leads to the change of logic and conceptual frameworks in design practices, allowing greater alignment with the paradigms of biological growth. In particular, the focus is on informed relations between physical, digital, and biological dimensions, allowing interaction, development, and mutual empowerment between entities and disciplines belonging to them. Such a correlative strategy can help design to apply systemic thinking, from the scale of the material to that of the product and the process, paving the way to sustainable scenarios, not simply to reduce the human impact on the ecosystem but to enhance nature through original cooperation and integration forms between humans, biology, and machines

Biodigital philosophy, technological convergence, and postdigital knowledge ecologies

New technological ability is leading postdigital science, where biology as digital information, and digital information as biology, are now dialectically interconnected. In this chapter we firstly explore a philosophy of biodigitalism as a new paradigm closely linked to bioinformationalism. Both involve the mutual interaction and integration of information and biology, which leads us into discussion of biodigital convergence. As a unified ecosystem, this allows us to resolve problems that isolated disciplinary capabilities cannot, creating new knowledge ecologies within a constellation of technoscience. To illustrate our arrival at this historical flash point via several major epistemological shifts in the post-war period, we venture a tentative typology. The convergence between biology and information reconfigures all levels of theory and practice, and even critical reason itself now requires a biodigital interpretation oriented towards ecosystems and coordinated Earth systems. In this understanding, neither the digital humanities, the biohumanities, nor the posthumanities sit outside of biodigitalism. Instead, posthumanism is but one form of biodigitalism that mediates the biohumanities and the digital humanities, no longer preoccupied with the tradition of the subject, but with the constellation of forces shaping the future of human ontologies. This heralds a new biopolitics which brings the philosophy of race, class, gender, and intelligence, into a compelling dialog with genomics and information

Networked learning in a postdigital-biodigital age

Networked Learning (NL) has developed predominantly in university settings, yet much of the research across decades has implicit links with broader global concepts, such as bioinformation, biodigitalism, postdigitalism, critical posthumanism and viral modernity. In this chapter, we explore these implicit connections as an important, less recognized part of NL. We surface some postdigital-biodigital challenges in NL by revisiting relevant histories, concepts, and definitions and noticing where there are connections, particularly when NL and Postdigital Science and Education have developed in the same Zeitgeist. Despite diverse histories, these areas of research have resulted in different, yet often overlapping theories, approaches, and ethos. After examining a number of cross-cutting areas of interest, we ask why a focus towards postdigital-biodigital challenges in NL is worthwhile, and indeed, why now? We perceive NL to implicitly hold a long history of deep and successful engagement with postdigital-biodigital challenges in theory and through the concept of convergence. Convergence is an important and sustained concept in NL that can break down perceived barriers to developing cross-cutting research in the areas discussed throughout this chapter. It is therefore timely to bring to light explicit bioinformational connections, to help focus our research efforts on NL in a postdigital-biodigital age