Robert Pepperell - The post-human condition

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title	:	The Post-human Condition
author	:	Pepperell, Robert.
publisher	:	Intellect Books
isbn10 | asin	:	1871516455
print isbn13	:	9781871516456
ebook isbn13	:	9780585214160
language	:	English
subject	Technology--Social aspects, Human beings.
publication date	:	1995
lcc	:	T14.5.P465 1995eb
ddc	:	303.48/3
subject	:	Technology--Social aspects, Human beings.

The Post-Human Condition Robert Pepperell EXETER, ENGLAND

Graspings: wholes and not wholes, convergent divergent, consonant dissonant, from all things one and from one thing all. The fairest order in the world is a heap of random sweepings Heraclitus, Fragments

The Post-Human Condition Robert Pepperell

First published in 1995 Second edition published in 1997 by Intellect Books EFAE, Earl Richards Road North, Exeter EX2 6AS, UK. Copyright Robert Pepperell 1995 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission. Consulting editor: Masoud Yazdani Copy editor: Wendi Momen Cover image: Robert Pepperell Layout design: Kevin Foakes (Open Mind) Additional images: Rob Chapman Thanks to: Mum & Dad & family, Miles Visman, Janni Perton, Matt Black, Mike Phillips, Masoud Yazdani, Rob Chapman, the Ninja crew, Kim and Quinta Carmen, people who put good stuff on the Net and, most of all, to Ruth. This book is dedicated to her. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Pepperell, R.C. Post-Human Condition I. Title 006.3 ISBN 1-871516-45-5

Contents Foreword i Introduction ii 1. Consciousness, Human Existence and Philosophy 1 2. Science, Nature and the Universe 27 3. Order and Disorder, Continuity and Discontinuity 49 4. Being, Language and Thought 67 5. Art, Aesthetics and Creativity 103 6. Automating Creativity and Synthetic Beings 125 7. What is Post-Humanism? 159 8. The Post-Human Manifesto 179 Bibliography and References 201 Index 205

Page i Foreword I have employed the term Post-Human to mean a number of things at once. Firstly, it is used to mark the end of that period of social development known as Humanism; in this sense it means 'after Humanism'. Secondly, it is used to refer to the fact that our own view of what constitutes a human being is now undergoing a profound transformation. We no longer think about what it is to be a human in the same way that we used to. Thirdly, the term refers to the general convergence of organisms and technology to the point where they become indistinguishable. Taken collectively, these could be said to represent a new era in human development the Post-Human era. The term is starting to gain wider currency and may be used in a number of different senses. However, the brief descriptions I have given above serve to outline its general meaning. The 'Post-Human Condition' cannot be so easily defined. In simple terms we could say it is the condition of existence in which we find ourselves once the Post-Human era arrives. But that does not tell us very much and I believe a fuller sense can only emerge by working through the ideas presented in this book. In this respect I can't claim to have given a complete picture of the Post-Human condition; there are many topics and ideas that have been left out. In fact, there is very little that is not relevant to what I am trying to describe. But, if I had to summarise my own feelings about the Post-Human condition, I would say we are approaching the electrification of existence - there is a tangible sense of a storm in the air.

Page ii Introduction The background to this book is the incredible rate of technological change that we are now experiencing and which is affecting virtually every aspect of our lives. In medicine, at work, in leisure, in politics we are noticing more and more the encroaching influence of computers, telecommunications and miniaturisation. Our phone systems, which remained relatively static for 60 years, are now the means by which we can send and receive words, pictures and sound internationally. Television, which also grew at a fairly stable rate between the 1950s and the 1980s, has exploded in complexity within a few years such that we now have access to hundreds of services, with stereo sound and interactivity. The number of platforms on which we can listen to pre-recorded music has risen from a couple in the 1960s to something nearer 10, at the last count. Few people in the 1970s might have thought that they would ever own their own computer. Computers were huge boxes that took up whole floors and were attended to by men in white coats with clipboards. Now computers are almost as common in homes as fridges and, since the arrival of computer games, word-processors and spreadsheets, people see them as sources of pleasure and convenience. We can get money out of walls, pay for goods with plastic cards, carry phones in our pockets, eat genetically modified tomatoes, carry computers in our hands...

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