We’re pleased to announce that The Research Network for Philosophy and Technology will present a series of lectures on “Cybernetics for the 21st Century, Part II: Cybernetics to Come” starting from 23rd April 2024 together with Hanart Forum and the Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, as one of the launch events of the Hanart Forum.
The first phase of the project “Cybernetics for the 21st Century” was dedicated to historical and regional studies on the development of cybernetics in the USA, Soviet Union, Poland, Chile, Japan, China, etc. in the 20th century. Phase 1 engaged with historians, philosophers and media scholars who provided us with a retrospective on the emergence of cybernetics and its implication in politics, science and art. The 21st century is undeniably a century of cybernetics, where we are witnessing the “becoming organism” of machines, the technological planetarization and acceleration towards full automation. We are experiencing a post-metaphysical world filled with new possibilities of liberation and freedom enabled by automation, at the same time haunted by a nihilism marked by robot revolts, imminent wars and climate catastrophes. The second phase of the project is dedicated to “cybernetics to come,” that is to say, a future inspired by cybernetics, while at the same time, moving beyond the closed systems imposed by its models, as well as the apocalyptic imaginations such as the technological singularity, to reflect on the future of freedom, democracy, right, co-existence, aesthetics, etc. A thorough critique of cybernetics and a speculative philosophy of technology are necessary in order to explore the possible worlds to come.
The publication of first phase Cybernetics for the 21st Century, Vol. 1: Epistemological Reconstruction was released globally in February 2024 and is available for free download in PDF at Hanart Press, its paperback is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
We are proud to have the participation of world-renowned historians, philosophers, cyberneticians, architects and science fiction writers below. The lectures are now available on YouTube and Bilibili. Please refer to the website of Hanart Press or the Research Network for Philosophy and Technology for future news and updates on the series.
Prof. Bruce Clarke (Texas Tech University/USA)
K Allado McDowell (Google Artists and Machine Intelligence Program/USA)
Prof. David Bates (University of California, Berkeley/USA)
Prof. Kostas Terzidis (Tongji University/China)
Prof. Toru Nishigaki (University of Tokyo/Japan)
Prof. Anna Greenspan (New York University Shanghai)
Prof. Orit Halpern (Dresden University of Technology/Germany)
Prof. Tony Fry (Design Theorist/ Australia)
Bruce Sterling (Science Fiction Author/USA)
Chen Qiu Fan (Science Fiction Writer/China)
Prof. Luciana Parisi (Duke University/USA)
Prof. Benjamin Bratton (University of California, San Diego/USA)
Prof. William Reckmeyer (ANU School of Cybernetics/Australia)
Organizers:
Hanart Forum
Research Network for Philosophy and Technology
Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Co-organizers:
East Asian Academy for New Liberal Arts, University of Tokyo
Department of the History of Science, Tsinghua University
School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong
Serakai Salons & Projects
About
The Research Network for Philosophy and Technology , established in 2014, is a project to rethink the relation between philosophy and technology, and the future of this relation from a global and historical perspective. It hosts the academic journal, Technophany—A Journal for Philosophy and Technology, co-published with the Radboud University Press.
Hanart Forum was established in 2022 as a discursive platform for contemporary thought, and a site for exploring diverse artistic practices. Hanart Forum is situated in a restored heritage building in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, an Edwardian-colonial style row house that dates from 1920. The site will be ready for projects by spring 2024.
Hanart Press, founded in 2023, is committed to Open Access publications on cutting-edge research on the intersection between philosophy, art and technology. It operates in conjunction with the contemporary art platform Hanart Forum, supported by the Jia Li Hall Foundation.