media theory, science fiction theory,
future design research
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The Zeroth Law of Robotics and the Robot Unconscious
The suspenseful story of the film I, Robot depends on the energy and complexity of the zeroth law of robotics – added as an even higher ethical priority than the first three laws by Asimov in 1950 in the short story “The Evitable Conflict.” The zeroth law then became a permanent fixture in Asimov’s science…
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I, Robot and the Moral Dilemmas of the Three Laws of Robotics
One of the contemporary developments with which Hayles is concerned is the techno-scientific project that has attracted widespread attention of building robots which, thanks to their Artificial Intelligence, will behave and operate in imitation of humans, yet, in all probability, will not have human-like consciousness. In her most recent work (“The Ethics of Robot Subjectivity”),…
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Paloque-Bergès and Sondheim on the Poetics of Code
In her book Poétique des codes sur le réseau informatique: une investigation critique, Camille Paloque-Bergès examines the history of the writing practices of software code poetry. Her ultimate emphasis is on the concept of Codeworks which was originated by the theorist, artist, and poet Alan Sondheim. Codeworks is the literary writing of informatic code. It…
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“Outer space is a blank canvas” — Interview with Forty Two Magazine
„Der Weltraum ist wie eine weiße Leinwand” “Outer space is a blank canvas” — Interview with Forty Two Magazine This is an excerpt from the complete interview. It can be found at Forty Two Magazine Alan N. Shapiro ist gebürtiger Amerikaner, der in seiner Wahlheimat Deutschland als transdisziplinärer Theoretiker und Dozent Medientheorie und Science-Fiction an der…
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Body, Self, and Code in Hypermodernism
This is the text of the speech that I gave at the Schaubühne theater in Berlin on 23. February 2020, at an event in the “Streitraum” series led by Carolin Emcke. I have slightly edited and expanded the original text. Most of the expansions are in italics. You can watch the video of my speech here:…
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How to Regulate the Media when they are ubiquitous and have gone viral: from utopian science fiction to practical European policy
How to Regulate the Media when they are ubiquitous and have gone viral: from utopian science fiction to practical European policy Alan N. Shapiro This is the text of the keynote speech that I gave at the European Union conference “Pluralism and Responsibility: Media in the Digital Society” in Berlin on July 7, 2020. I…
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Interview with Artist Network Theory
An interview with Alan N. Shapiro by Axelle Stiefel August 2020 This interview was published in Volume 1, Issue 2 of Artist Network Theory. Info about Artist Network Theory AXELLE: We met in a media theory course you gave in Lucerne at the HSLU where I was enrolled as a student in the masters design…
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Some Visions of Post-Capitalism
Play Don’t Work The book that I have read about Marx that most inspired me was Marx’s Theory of Alienation by the Hungarian Marxist philosopher István Mészáros, published in 1970. Mészáros argues that the first full-fledged elaboration of Marx’s philosophical system is to be found in the theory of alienated labour of the Economic and Philosophical…
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From mass advertising to personalized advertising: the Billboard Cage Project of Christos Voutichtis
From mass advertising to personalized advertising: the Billboard Cage Project of Christos Voutichtis Alan N. Shapiro The billboard is like a theatrical stage. It is an exhibition space, a seductive or informative representation of a product or service or venue, or a simulation drawing attention to itself and becoming its own hyper-reality. It is a…
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Is Trump a Fascist or is He the Parody of Fascism?
Jean Baudrillard and the Donald: Is Trump a Fascist or is He the Parody of Fascism? Alan N. Shapiro This is the text of my speech at the virtual conference “Trump, Television and the Media: From Drama to Fake News to Tweetstorms” organized by London Metropolitan University which took place on 30-31 October 2020. Epistemology…
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From Sociology to Media Studies to Software Studies, part one
Friedrich Kittler was the founder of German media theory and media archaeology. I disagree with Kittler’s statement that there is no software and his belief that the numerical logic of the low-level hardware that Alan Turing and John von Neumann conceptualized in the 1930s-1940s is determining and decisive. In my view, just because the kernel or…
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From Sociology to Media Studies to Software Studies, part two
Friedrich Kittler’s Media Archaeology What has, to the contrary, been very successful and influential in German universities is the media theory of Friedrich Kittler. Kittler’s media archaeology and media historiography have led to the rise of the Berlin School of media theory, of which Wolfgang Ernst is at the forefront. Kittler opposes the so-called discourse analysis of…
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The Simulacra of Public Space: the work of Christos Voutichtis, by Alan N. Shapiro
The simulacra of public space: the work of Christos Voutichtis Alan N. Shapiro This is a lecture where I went back and forth between English and German. It took place in the “saasfee*pavillon” art gallery in Frankfurt in February 2019. I am going to talk about the artworks of Christos Voutichtis. Seine Arbeit ist ein…
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Technological Anarchism, by Alan N. Shapiro
Technological Anarchism Alan N. Shapiro Introduction My proposed book is in the academic field of cultural theory, with special emphases on critical social theory, critical media theory, digital media design, and science fiction utopianism. My intention is to write a book developing the transdisciplinary concept of Technological Anarchism as an optimistic, normative, heterotopian (a term…
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Science-Fiction-Replikatoren: Additive Fertigung und die Ökonomie der Zukunft, von Alan N. Shapiro
Science-Fiction-Replikatoren: Additive Fertigung und die Ökonomie der Zukunft Von Alan Shapiro This was the text of my keynote speech at the conference of the Swiss Manufacturing Association in October 2018. Einführung Sozialismus ist schiefgegangen. Kapitalismus muss sich verändern. Der europäische Kapitalismus hat Angst davor, von Asien überholt zu werden. Wie also sieht die Vision für…
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