DeLanda and Hayles, Nature Space Society
I listened to two of the many talks from Tate’s Online Archive, philosopher and writer Manuel DeLanda’s, and professor of English N. Katherine Hayles’s lectures under the title “Nature Space Society.” (Thanks to Matt, I didn’t have to rip the audio myself.) Both talks were very interesting.
DeLanda’s lecture was on nature versus nurture, Gilles Deleuze’s criticism of science, the role of diseases in the evolution of culture, genetical engineering, historization, Kant, Foucault, etc.
Hayles’s lecture was on cellular automata, artificial life, the influence of science fiction on science, etc. A large part of her talk was a summary of Greg Egan’s book Permutation City (from an Amazon review: “a story about a young man … who uploads the contents of his brain to a computer”) .
Of the two, I enjoyed Hayles’s more. See my linkdump from back in October for more Tate lectures.