Monday, November 09, 2009

Biopolitics of Popular Culture Seminar

The Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies (IEET) will be hosting a seminar on the "Biopolitics of Popular Culture":
Popular culture is full of tropes and cliches that shape our debates about emerging technologies. Our most transcendent expectations for technology come from pop culture, and the most common objections to emerging technologies come from science fiction and horror, from Frankenstein and Brave New World to Gattaca and the Terminator.

Why is it that almost every person in fiction who wants to live a longer than normal life is evil or pays some terrible price? What does it say about attitudes towards posthuman possibilities when mutants in Heroes or the X-Men, or cyborgs in Battlestar Galactica or Iron Man, or vampires in True Blood or Twilight are depicted as capable of responsible citizenship?

Is Hollywood reflecting a transhuman turn in popular culture, helping us imagine a day when magical and muggle can live together in a peaceful Star Trek federation? Will the merging of pop culture, social networking and virtual reality into a heightened augmented reality encourage us all to make our lives a form of participative fiction?

During this day long seminar we will engage with culture critics, artists, writers, and filmmakers to explore the biopolitics that are implicit in depictions of emerging technology in literature, film and television.
Sounds pretty interesting - and some of the confirmed speakers should be familiar to science fiction fans:
You can check out all of the particpants at the official web site.

The seminar will be held on Friday, December 4th in Irvine, California. Click for details. If you register before November 15th, the cost is only $99 - $60 for students.

Saturday and Sunday, December 5th and 6th, the Humanity+ Summit will be held at the same location.
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1 comment:

  1. makes me wish I didn't live on the other side of the globe! ;o)
    sounds very interesting!

    ReplyDelete

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