Anders Günther - Prometheanism: technology, digital culture, and human obsolescence

Prometheanism

Critical Perspectives on Theory, Culture and Politics

Critical Perspectives on Theory, Culture and Politics is a new interdisciplinary series developed in partnership with the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory based in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy at Cardiff University, UK. This interdisciplinary series will focus on innovative research produced at the interface between critical theory and cultural studies. In recent years much work in Cultural Studies has increasingly moved away from directly critical-theoretical concerns. One of the aims of this series is to foster a renewed dialogue between Cultural Studies and Critical and Cultural Theory in its rich, multiple dimensions.

Series Editors

Glenn Jordan, Reader in Cultural Studies and Creative Practice and Director of Butetown History & Arts Centre, University of South Wales.

Laurent Milesi, Reader in English, Communication and Philosophy and Chair of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, Cardiff University.

Radhika Mohanram, Professor of English and Critical and Cultural Theory, Cardiff University.

Chris Norris, Distinguished Research Professor, Cardiff University.

Chris Weedon, Chair of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, Director of Postgraduate Studies and Head of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, Cardiff University.

Culture Control Critique: Allegories of Reading the Present , Frida Beckman

Prometheanism: Technology, Digital Culture and Human Obsolescence , Christopher John Mller

Creole in the Archive: Imagery, Presence and the Location of the Caribbean Figure, Roshini Kempadoo (forthcoming)

The Attention Economy: Labour, Time, and Power in Cognitive Capitalism , Claudio Celis (forthcoming)

Postcolonial Nostalgia and the Construction of a South-Asian Diaspora , Anindya Raychaudhuri (forthcoming)

Cultures of the Extreme: From Abu Ghraib to Saw and Beyond , Pramod K. Nayar (forthcoming)

Credo Credit Crisis: Speculations on Faith and Money , edited by Laurent Milesi, Christopher John Mller and Aidan Tynan (forthcoming)

Materialities of Sex in a Time of HIV: The Promise of Vaginal Microbicides , Annette-Carina van der Zaag (forthcoming)

Performative Contradiction and the Romanian Revolution , Jolan Bogdan (forthcoming)

Partitions and their Afterlives: Violence, Memories, Living , edited by Radhika Mohanram and Anindya Raychaudhuri (forthcoming)

Music, Photography, and the Aesthetics of Time , Peter R. Sedgwick and Kenneth Gloag (forthcoming)

Contested Borders: Queer Politics and Cultural Translation in Contemporary Francophone Writing from the Maghreb , William J. Spurlin (forthcoming)

Affective Connections: Towards a New Materialist Politics of Sympathy , Dorota Golaska (forthcoming)

Chinese Subjectivity and the Beijing Olympics , Gladys Pak Lei Chong (forthcoming)

Prometheanism

Technology, Digital Culture and Human Obsolescence

Christopher John Mller

London New York

Published by Rowman & Littlefield International, Ltd.

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Copyright 2016 Christopher John Mller

The translation of On Promethean Shame copyright Rowman & Littlefield International 2016.

Originally published under the title ber prometheische Scham in Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen Bd. I by Gnther Anders.

Copyright CH Beck 2010.

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: HB 978-1-78348-238-2

PB 978-1-78348-239-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mller, Christopher John, author.

Title: Prometheanism : technology, digital culture and human obsolescence / Christopher John Mller.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield International, 2016. | Series: Critical perspectives on theory, culture and politics | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016027658 (print) | LCCN 2016028904 (ebook) | ISBN 9781783482382 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781783482399 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781783482405 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Anders, Gunther, 19021992. | Human beings. | Philosophical anthropology. | TechnologyPhilosophy. | TechnologyMoral and ethical aspects.

Classification: LCC B3199.A534 M85 2016 (print) | LCC B3199.A534 (ebook) | DDC 193dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016027658

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

This book is testament to the tremendous encouragement of my parents Shirley and Urs Mller, who have always offered their support unreservedly and unconditionally. For this I am truly grateful. The School of English, Communication and Philosophy and The Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff University enabled me to conduct this work in a highly stimulating and collegial environment and provided me with scarce office space. I wish to thank all my friends and colleagues here at Cardiff, too many to list individually, for the many discussions that have fed into this project. I do, however, especially wish to thank Chris Weedon whose support and friendship have been instrumental to the completion of this project. Her diligent readership and criticism have shaped this work from the outset and have improved it incalculably. Christopher Norriss helpful comments on previous versions of parts of this book, and Marija Grechs critical readership have helped me structure and refine my argument. Special mention must go to Aidan Tynan, who drew my attention to the publication of The Pathology of Freedom in Deleuze Studies in 2009, as this was my first encounter with Anderss thought. Beyond Cardiff, I wish to thank Rodney Livingstone for his guidance and encouragement towards taking the first steps as a translator, and also for taking the time to revise parts of my translation. The friendship and critical awareness of Julius Greve and Kostas Dolgeras have made a major contribution to the overall trajectory of this book, and I would also like to thank Johann Gregory, Stefan Karrer and Edgar Eckert in this respect. This project would not have been possible without the work on Anders in English that a number of pioneering individuals have produced. I especially wish to mention Harold Marcuses website on Anders, and Jason Dawseys introductions to Anderss life and work, which have proven to be indispensable resources. I would also like to thank Kerstin Putz and Reinhard Ellensohn, the organisers of the 2014 FWF conference on Anders Schreiben fr bermorgen , and the participants of the said conference. Work presented there has been further developed in this book and an earlier, short version of the final chapter will appear in German in the conference volume. Etienne Morel has provided invaluable assistance with the translation of the Latin and Greek expressions that form part of Anderss On Promethean Shame. Lucy Menon and Shirley Mllers many editorial and stylistic suggestions have significantly enhanced the overall finish and readability of this book. Finally, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Daniel Karrer who has allowed me to use one of his wonderful paintings as a book cover.