Rosi Braidotti - The Posthuman (2013) Not all of us can say, with any degree of certainty, that we have always been human, or that we are only that. Some of us are not even considered fully human now, let alone at previous moments of Western social, political and scientific history. Not if by 'human' we mean that creature familiar to us from the Enlightenment and its legacy: 'The Cartesian subject of the cogito, the Kantian "community of reasonable beings", or, in more sociological terms, the subject as citizen, rights-holder, property-owner, and so on' (Wolfe, 2010a). And yet the term enjoys widespread consensus and it maintains the re-assuring familiarity of common sense. We assert our attachment to the species as if it were a matter of fact, a given. So much so that we construct a fundamental notion of Rights around the Human. But is it so? While conservative, religious social forces today often labour to re-inscribe the human within a paradigm of natural law, the concept of the human has exploded under the double pressure of contemporary scientific advances and global economic concerns. After the postmodern, the post-colonial, the post-industrial, the post-communist and even the much contested post-feminist conditions, we seem to have entered the post-human predicament. Far from being the n* variation in a sequence of prefixes that may appear both endless and somehow arbitrary, the posthuman condition introduces a qualitative shift in our thinking about what exactly is the basic unit of common reference for our species, our polity and our relationship to the other inhabitants of this planet. This issue raises serious questions as to the very structures of our shared identity - as humans - amidst the complexity of contemporary science, politics and international relations. Discourses and representations of the non-human, the inhuman, the anti-human, the inhumane and the posthuman proliferate and overlap in our globalized, technologically mediated societies. INDEX: Acknowledgements vi Introduction 1 1 Post-Humanism: Life beyond the Self 13 2 Post-Anthropocentrism: Life beyond the Species 55 3 The Inhuman: Life beyond Death 105 4 Posthuman Humanities: Life beyond Theory 143 Conclusion 186 References 198 Index 214 audio-book specs: Mac computer voice Tessa, MP3 64kbps, run time 8 hrs 21 min 15 sec Cybernetics Cybernetics is a trans-disciplinary approach for exploring regulatory systems, their structures, constraints, and possibilities. In the 21st century, the term is often used in a rather loose way to imply "control of any system using technology;" this has blunted its meaning to such an extent that many writers avoid using it. Cybernetics is relevant to the study of systems, such as mechanical, physical, biological, cognitive, and social systems. Cybernetics is applicable when a system being analyzed incorporates a closed signaling loop; that is, where action by the system generates some change in its environment and that change is reflected in that system in some manner (feedback) that triggers a system change, originally referred to as a "circular causal" relationship. System dynamics, a related field, originated with applications of electrical engineering control theory to other kinds of simulation models (especially business systems) by Jay Forrester at MIT in the 1950s. Concepts studied by cyberneticists include, but are not limited to: learning, cognition, adaptation, social control, emergence, communication, efficiency, efficacy, and connectivity. These concepts are studied by other subjects such as engineering and biology, but in cybernetics these are abstracted from the context of the individual organism or device. CASE # 20225E: "LOST ODYSSEY" Around the end of 2014, Pulses got ready to initiate the second cycle of the enigmatic techno experience. It would go even deeper and strip down the structure to expose the core elements. Using complex atmospheric waves encrypted within hidden geometries to generate mass hypnosis, these signals were to reach the inner soul of the receiver. Quantized references of these roots were then infused to arise the required hive mind: Italus Hypnosis, German Technology, Zion foundations & Drone frequencies. But this time, everything did not go according to plan. It started with strange anomalies, many glitches, then some messages intrusions on the screens: "The symbols are the roots. The hidden signals become music. Music respawn the soul of the alchemist. Don't stay too long in the black cluster. The guardian is shaddy!" The lab soon became unstable. The equipment generated a sea of fragmented patterns and chaos did not take over the experiment. Then, the music was severely altered. By who or what? THE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM FOUND A HARD DRIVE NAMED "LOST ODYSSEY" IN THE LAB’S SECURITY VAULT. THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE PULSES MEMBERS ARE CURRENTLY UNKNOWN. tags: posthuman, transhuman, cybernetic, cyborg, technology, society, conspiracy, subliminal, hive, mind