25th March 2021.
What does the notion of ‘cyborg’ still mean in our hyper-digitalized world?
On 25th March, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy of Technology Peter-Paul Verbeek will guide us through the history and changing relationship between humans and technology in our third online event in the Cyborg Futures series. The presentation will be followed by a live Q&A. The programme is part of the IMPAKT web-project: Cyborg Futures: Who Doesn’t Want to Live Forever? which investigates the role of cyborgs, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics in our modern world.
We live in a digital society. It is within this highly globalised and intercultural context, that Peter-Paul Verbeek explores the concept of the cyborg — and of how we have all become new cyborgs. For in fact, we have always been cyborgs: we have evolved in close interaction with technology (think of the use of medical prosthetics, or even writing and the use of tools as a form of technology). Does this mean that we have become technological by nature? Are technology and artificiality our nature? Then, what remains as the human element in the cyborg?
These are some of the questions we try to answer with our interactive web-project Cyborg Futures. In addition to Peter-Paul Verbeek’s contribution, the project includes interviews, mini-lectures and artworks by Stelarc, Neil Harbisson, Anna Gimbrére, Joanna Bryson, Alain Bieber, Klasien van de Zandschulp & Ali Eslami, Lancel/Maat, Simon Dogger, Monobanda, Wouter van Noort, Dan Hassler-Forest, Anneke Smelik and many other artists and speakers.
Cyborg Futures is a continuation of a Dutch-German partnership between the NRW Forum and IMPAKT, in collaboration with the Heartwire collective. The project is partly funded by the Dutch consulate in Düsseldorf and Creative Industries Fund NL.
