Midson - Cyborg theology: humans, technology and God

Scott A. Midson is Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester, where he obtained his PhD in 2016. Specialising in religion and technology, and religion and posthumanism, he is a member of the Society for the Study of Theology, where he delivered a paper in 2016 on the topic of Black Mirrors. Cyborg Theology is his first book.

Scott Midson's book will encourage readers to reflect not just on the impact of advanced technologies on their everyday lives, but also on the deeper questions about what it means to be human in a world of hybrid beings and fluid boundaries.

Elaine L. Graham, Grosvenor Research Professor of Practical Theology, University of Chester, author of Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture

Scott Midson's book blazes a new path for theology in its pursuit of the trans- and posthuman. This is cutting-edge work that we need to start to include in our academic curricula. It speaks powerfully to the world we inhabit.

Graham Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford

Utilising the concept of the cyborg, Midson brilliantly explores the shifting boundaries and coupling relationships between human and machine. The result is a tour de force. Midson's is a new and compelling voice on the theological scene.

Peter Scott, Samuel Ferguson Professor of Applied Theology and Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester

CYBORG
THEOLOGY

Humans, Technology and God

S COTT A. M IDSON

Published in 2018 by

I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd

London New York

www.ibtauris.com

Copyright 2018 Scott A. Midson

The right of Scott A. Midson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

References to websites were correct at the time of writing.

Library of Modern Religion 56

ISBN: 978 1 78453 787 6

eISBN: 978 1 78672 295 9

ePDF: 978 1 78673 295 8

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

For Margaret and Murray Midson

Contents

List of Figures

Venn diagram to express the interrelationship between humans, nature and technology

Venn diagram to show the interrelationship between humans, nature and technology in the broad field of posthumanism

Venn diagram to show humantechnology dynamics in different expressions and understandings of cyborg figures

Diagram to show the cyborgian interrelationship between humans and technologies as fusions and confusions

Acknowledgements

No cyborg acts alone: that is the message that is at the forefront of this book. And so, it is fitting to open by acknowledging some of the people without whom this book would not have come together, and to whom I extend a deep and sincere thank you.

This book began as a PhD thesis undertaken at the University of Manchester (201215), which was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and a President's Doctoral Scholarship (PDS). The wisdom and guidance of my supervisory team (Susannah Cornwall, Kaye Mitchell, Chris Shannahan, and Peter Scott) during this time is hopefully (!) still preserved in these pages, and I thank them wholeheartedly for their inputs. I also thank Sigurd Bergmann and Michael Hoelzl for their invaluable advice about making the transition from thesis to manuscript. There are many, many more names to cover that span this period far too many to list here unfortunately but the communities of the Graduate School (of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures), the Lincoln Theological Institute and the Department of Religions and Theology have been particularly supportive of this research. I have also had the privilege of teaching at the University of Chester while preparing this book, and colleagues in the department of Theology and Religious Studies were encouraging and helpful. It has been a pleasure to write the book as part of these communities, working among inspiring researchers.

I also thank Dympna Gould and Canon David Holgate of Manchester Cathedral for the invitation to present some of my work on cyborgs and theology as part of Manchester Science Week 2016. Albert Radcliffe and his congregations at St Chad's Church, Withington, also extended a kind and generous invite to present at and participate in their fantastic Religion and Science seminars. Audiences here and at conferences where I have discussed, and had the opportunity to develop, some of my chapters have provided invaluable feedback as well as a list of sci-fi recommendations that I'm still only scratching the surface of.

Additional thanks go to Emma Britain and Sonja Bernhard and the Widening Participation and Schools Outreach teams of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester, as well as teachers and pupils of the classes that I have had the pleasure of talking all things technological and posthuman with. I appreciated classes' lively responses and comments, which ranged from asking how we can distinguish humans from God, to designing soft and huggable robots; and from exploring whether we are posthuman, to having a heated discussion about whether Beyonc is a cyborg. I also thank students of Theological Studies in Philosophy and Ethics at the University of Manchester, whose responses to my lectures on matters of theological anthropology and human and nonhuman ethics have inspired me to take my work in further new and exciting directions.

I have been particularly fortunate to have had the love and support of friends throughout the book-writing process: they have helped to celebrate successes and to rebound from less-than-successes; usually with both involving copious amounts of cake. I wholeheartedly here thank, among others, Katie Zakis, Naomi Billingsley, Esther Webb (and Grace Church, Manchester), Miri Jakel, Johannes Lotze, Kate Crouch, Dorian Campbell, Jenni Jackson, Alison Jackson, Kayla Hillier, Anna Vickerstaff, Rosie Edgley and Chloe Thornton. Particular thanks also go to Katharina Keim, who has patiently and enthusiastically passed on advice and encouragement, and Tim Tams, and who has spurred me on throughout the highs and lows of balancing writing and life. I also thank James Grant for putting up with my cyborgian (and omniborgian) ramblings, and for offering much appreciated support that has enriched the writing process, and that I hope has in turn enriched my arguments and their articulation here.

My biggest thank you and acknowledgements in putting this book together go firstly to Alex Wright, Sara Magness and the team at I.B.Tauris for taking an initial and sustained interest in my research, and for making my first-time publishing process so enjoyable. Secondly, to Peter Scott, who has guided and helped to develop my ideas, and from whom I continue to learn much about theology and its role in the contemporary academy and world. Through detailed conversations with Peter during my academic journey in Manchester, I have been able to continually refine and sharpen my critique about cyborgs and my awareness of theological tools, and I am very thankful and grateful for his shared expertise and valuable inputs.