CAC · Lecture Rethink Cybernetics: From the Posthuman to Accelerationism

Cybernetics is more than an outdated theory and should not be dismissed as merely an ancient form of technology. It has affected diverse aspects of culture and ideology throughout 20th century, and such influence continues even today, especially in relation to two major pioneering theoretical  trends in recent times: posthumanism and accelerationism.

As part of the Collaboration Studio “The Posthuman Turn: Cybernetic Serendipity Revisted”, the two lectures led by JIANG Yuhui at CAC will shed light on the theoretical foundations of cybernetics and its implications through Norbert Wiener’s classic work The Human Use of Human Beings and the transformations it initiated. Then, JIANG will consider How We Became Posthuman by N. Katherine Hayles to elucidate the significant influence that the three stages of cybernetics had on posthumanism. In Nick Land’s Fanged Noumena and other representative works on accelerationism, the circuitries operating through feedback mechanisms is very different from that of cybernetics, which offers an alternative direction for future exploration. This lecture will also draw on related art works to unfold the dialogue between philosophy and art.

Suggested Readings

Norbert Wiener, Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication inthe Animal and the Machine, 1948.

N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics, 1999.

Rosi Braidotti, The Posthuman, 2013.