Summary: Week 9
I’ve spent a fascinating week considering what it means to be posthuman. This began with my post at the end of last week on the differences between the cyborg and the posthuman (lifestream: 13.11.2011 #1), in which I discuss the notion of a distributed consciousness; and this has since informed some thoughts on the emergence of a global “cognisphere” (lifestream: 20.11.2011 #1). Jeremy asked in the comments to that post whether language could be considered as a tool, and this question formed the basis for much of my lifestream content this week. I became very interested in the development of language itself as well as modern day enhancements such as the construction of symbolic languages for specific disciplines (lifestream 15.11.2011 #2, #3 and #4). It should come as no surprise that language has played a key role in the development of social groups and social organisation but it has also produced profound effects on the mind of the speaker. With the development of highly accurate symbolic languages, we have introduced the possibility for substantially more reliable transfer of meaning between individuals, as well as deeper understanding of concepts through enhanced reasoning and greater detail of mental constructs.
Such tools certainly give us greater powers and abilities but does that make us more than human, or are humans actually defined by their ability to adapt and improve themselves? Carol and I have have had an interesting running discussion on Twitter over the course of the week on the subject of human evolution and whether the prefix ‘post’ in posthuman is redundant, given that all life is in a state of constant evolution (lifestream: 17.11.2011 #3) and that humanity has always been defined by its adaptability. One interesting idea emerging from this discussion has been the notion that the evolutionary process is itself undergoing a change, and whether humanity’s integration with technology might be viewed as a type of natural development (lifestream: 19.11.2011 #1). Overall its been a very stimulating week; and so now begins the preparation for the posthuman pedagogy task and getting a concrete topic for my essay. Much to consider, as always.