A discussion about the Intellect Universalis and other important intellectual matters..
Sepideh Majidi is a philosopher. In 2019, she established Foreign Objekt, a collective research platform for philosophy and art, offering freely available resources. She also founded the Posthuman School, Posthuman art network, and the Posthuman Lab, dedicated to exploring the intersections of posthuman theories and philosophical anthropology.
Currently, she leads the program ‘Intelligence Unbound,’ focused on surveying the prospects of a philosophy of intelligence forged through interactions between philosophy, arts, complexity, cognitive, and computer sciences.
Her current focus is a reformulation of the history of philosophy as a system for hypothesizing and inquiring into the possibility of different forms of life and their corresponding worlds, working out this central thesis that the concrete explicitation of the perennial concerns of philosophy introduce an impersonal conception of intelligence distinguished by its ability to not only imagine but also think through different forms of life.
We want to thank her for the whole support to Thrausma, her will to connect us with the whole project of Foreign Objekt through the ongoing Symposium on Intelligence.
The discussion/interview took place among Sepideh Majidi & Spyridon St. Kogkas, co-founder and lead editor of Thrausma.
https://www.foreignobjekt.com/
Spyridon: Hi Sepideh, Let’s start this conversation with a necessary question about your passion to fuse Architecture, Philosophy, Technology and Visual Arts on a Carnapian approach of Unified Science for 21st Century as I would describe the Foreign Objekt. Tell me what drives you to this direction, which is your structural intellectual field that loaded energy to this kind of synthesis ?
Sepideh: At Foreign Objekt, our passion lies in fusing philosophy, art, and science to address the multiscale and hybrid challenges of the 21st century. We believe that the integration of diverse disciplines can lead to innovative ideas, creative solutions, and holistic perspectives.
Our drive to explore the intersections and synergies between philosophy, art, and science stems from a desire to break down traditional silos and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. We recognize that the increasing complexities and interconnected nature of contemporary challenges require a more holistic approach.
Foreign Objekt functions as an overarching platform that encompasses various research, practice and pedagogical modules, such as schools, laboratories, exhibitions, and publications. It serves as a hub for education, interdisciplinary collaboration, knowledge exchange, and thinking.
Within this platform, we offer different spaces tailored to specific sections of the process, creating an environment where experts in philosophy, art, and science can converge. By cultivating a lively intellectual community, we facilitate the exchange of ideas and encourage the exploration of uncharted territories as well as remapping well-trodden terrains.
The intrinsic architecture of the platform promotes a tractable and transparent approach to the development and evolution of systems within its ecosystem.
This architecture establishes a robust and coherent infrastructure that supports the dynamic exploration and transformation of knowledge and art, facilitating the integration of diverse systems, disciplines, and perspectives.
Moreover, the platform’s architecture exhibits flexibility, allowing it to adapt to the dynamic and complex nature of its activities. It enables the creation and integration of new components while accommodating the evolving needs of the platform.
This adaptable architecture recognizes the ever-changing landscape of interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exploration, ensuring the platform’s continued relevance and effectiveness over time.
Spyridon:Foreign Objekt from a first sight has two undoubted pillars of Research focus: a)Posthumanism b) Intelligence today. Share with us the factors that explain the extreme interconnection of these two for the vision and aims of Foreign Objekt
Sepideh:The interconnection between posthumanism and intelligence in Foreign Objekt’s vision is driven by several factors that contribute to the platform’s aims and research focus. Foreign Objekt, as an interdisciplinary organization encompassing various fields of study, recognizes the convergence of posthumanism and intelligence/communication in its research labs.
By exploring the relationship between these two pillars, it aims to push the boundaries of intelligence beyond human-centered perspectives and embrace the emergence of posthuman intelligence.
Intelligence, sufficiently disentangled from theological and teleological discourses and properly understood, is its own compass–an ethical, practical, and cosmological artifact of its own labor and destiny.
For us humans, wielding that compass necessitates not only human responsibility but also responsibility toward a concrete labor through which intelligence makes and remakes itself. In this sense, intelligence can be said to be guiding human evolution, marking our place in the cosmos, and shaping our worldview.
But as intelligence unbinds itself and sheds the human face projected onto it, the human also begins to reimagine its boundaries and constraints, seeing itself at the outer edge of its horizon where the image of the human becomes exceedingly warped, if not foreign.
As we navigate the dynamics of human-posthuman evolution, we find ourselves on the precipice of a significant transformation in our conceptualization of intelligence. This transformation extends far beyond the realm of technological advancements.
It encompasses a diversification of our conceptual frameworks, an enhancement of our linguistic capabilities, an amplification of our intuitive faculties, and a broadening of our cognitive and experiential capacities.
These aspects of human intelligence are all undergoing a profound metamorphosis, shaped not only by technological progress but also by biological adaptations, environmental changes, and tectonic shifts in our historical consciousness, among a multitude of other influential factors.
By expanding the conceptual horizons of the human, posthuman and intelligence, Foreign Objekt embraces a more dynamic and inclusive understanding of intelligence’s role in human evolution and worldview.
This broadened perspective encourages contemplation on the implications of emerging technologies and the possibility of artificial intelligence and AGI surpassing human capabilities.
The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computational systems are blurring the boundaries between human and non-human intelligence.
Foreign Objekt acknowledges the potential tensions, complexities, and opportunities that arise in this evolving landscape and explores the dynamics between human and posthuman intelligence.
One of the key considerations within this expanded understanding of intelligence is the potential for cognitive augmentation and enhancement. By leveraging technology, there is the prospect of improving human cognitive capacities, such as memory, processing speed, and problem-solving abilities.
Intelligence is not confined to the mind alone but is intertwined with the physical and social dimensions of human existence–the interplay between cognition, embodiment, and the socio-cultural context in which intelligence operates.
This holistic understanding encourages reflection on the impact of technology on physical bodies, the reconfiguration of social interactions, and the ethical consequences of potential disparities in access to intelligence-enhancing technologies.
Lastly, the ever-changing landscape of human-posthuman dynamics demands cognitive adaptability to navigate the complexities of shifting environments. Cultivating cognitive adaptability involves the ability to learn, unlearn, and reconfigure cognitive processes and frameworks in response to new challenges and opportunities.
By empowering individuals and intelligent systems with cognitive adaptability, here we aim to facilitate thriving in dynamic and uncertain contexts. In this sense, Foreign Objekt recognizes the importance of leveraging the unique perspectives and expertise of these stakeholders to chart the course of cognitive evolution.
Through collective engagement, they aim to navigate the intricacies of the evolution and pave the way for a future that maximizes the potential of human and posthuman intelligence.
Spyridon:There is a fact that our age essentially undermines the Palaeolithic value of the old Academic and University system because of distance technological tools, para academia, scientific and research communities international connection is spreading enormously. What does this mean for an Accelerationist and Posthuman futuristic project? Are we getting closer to a new kind of Intellect Universalis?
Sepideh: In the age of technological advancement and the increasing international connectivity of scientific and research communities, humanities in its academic setup has undergone erosion for various reasons, economic or not. Para-academia is a direct response to that erosion in academia and particularly, the fate of humanities that is now uncertain because of how the foundational values of the Academic and University are being challenged for the good or bad from within and without.
The emergence of distance technological tools and para-academic platforms has created new possibilities for knowledge dissemination and global intellectual exchange. This transformative landscape holds implications for Accelerationist and Posthuman future-oriented projects, as it brings us closer to the realization of a new kind of Intellect Universalis.
But before going too far, let’s look at the tension between locality versus universality / globality in a way that neither of them are presented in a trivial manner. This means that we need to move away from a definition of the global / universal as a generic horizon in which all particularities are dissolved and local viewpoints are qualitatively flattened, and a definition of the local as a site that always enjoys an immediate access to its problems and exigencies.
Against these trivializing definitions of the local and the global whereby the connections between the two is always presented in terms of the immediacy of access or the impossibility of access from one to another, a genuine local-global dialectics presents the relations between the local and the global in terms of various mediated modes of access, points of intrusion, twists, torsions, and constructible pathways. Within this dialectical schema which is more about techniques and episteme of navigation rather than immediate access or inaccessibility by principle, we find ourselves situated in locality as the starting point.
But it is a locality which is as epistemically opaque to us as the global itself. It is from this position that the autodidactic journey commences, within the sphere of the transcendental subject, set to be let adrift in a boundless ocean which is the will-to-think equipped with proper skill sets, techniques and conceptual toolboxes which can either be acquired or collected as one navigates the waters. Nevertheless, it is vital to recognize that even transcendental thought itself is constituted and contingent, leaving us oblivious to the existence of alternative agents and their cognitive landscapes.
Despite the inherent restricted nature of local horizon of thinking, the autodidact possesses the potential to establish connections that revise and redefine limitations. Limitations which confine thoughts to their immediate and given contexts.
Through the utilization of diverse methods and techniques, the autodidact can expand the horizons of local thought, transmuting it into an expansive realm of possibilities reminiscent of the act of making, repairing and steering a boat that is adrift on the ocean we call universality.
In this open venture both the ‘the local becomes x and the global become y so to describe the nature of the transformation, This process unveils the immanent limitations of human comprehension bound to local domains, and provokes the alteration of the epistemological question of how we can apprehend ourselves in an open vista which requires both unmooring and anchoring thought.
The journey of the autodidact epitomizes an ongoing exploration, a quest to push the boundaries of knowledge to go beyond the limitations imposed by local contingencies which are mistaken as overarching laws or necessary or settled conventions. It engenders a sense of humility that compels us to question, learn and engage in intellectual connections within the interconnected ‘collective fabric of our concepts’.
The ethical project of the autodidact originates from the very heart of the universal, and emanates from the boundaries of the local phenomena or perspectives. It navigates the interplay between locality and globality within the realm of a constitutional project.This recognition clarifies the dual nature of local thought—as both the center and the periphery, a threshold at the juncture.
This existence involves a specific range of dynamisms and tensions between the confined and the boundless, ones which often manifest at the periphery or liminal zones. From the perspective of the unknown and beyond, the local thought is the fringe of the unbound. This realization highlights the deceptive nature of our cognitive perception, revealing the anchoring of thought to its contingent constitution, unbeknownst to the subject.
In contemplating the implications of the undermining of the old Academic and University system by distance technological tools and international connections, we must consider the transformative possibilities for futuristic projects, against The autodidact’s ethical project, as it is aligns with these endeavors, as it challenges the hierarchical structures and limitations of traditional boundaries.
By embracing decentralized learning and self-modificatory exploration, autodidact is the form of an agent that embracesthe augmentations of techniques, cognitions and different modes of connectivity among various islands of thought. It paves the way for the cultivation of a new kind of Intellectus Universalis, one that transcends the confines of institutional frameworks and encompasses the collective intelligence of diverse subjects.
As we progress towards this new kind of Intellectus Universalis, the autodidact’s commitment to exploration and the unbinding of localized horizons of episteme and technique becomes increasingly significant, urging us to push the boundaries of human understanding, challenge anthropocentric perspectives, and embrace a more comprehensive and inclusive form of intellectual growth.
The concept of an Intellect Universalis emerges as a tantalizing possibility. It suggests the convergence of diverse perspectives, the dissolution of disciplinary boundaries, and the emergence of a shared intellectual consciousness that transcends individual limitations or experiences despite the latter’s necessary role in the constitution of such consciousness.
However, the journey towards an Intellect Universalis is not without its uncertainties, risks and obstacles. The autodidact’s journey demands resilience and adaptability. The ethical project of the autodidact becomes a guiding light, illuminating the path towards an enlightened shared future.
Spyridon: I am really excited to speak together about your perception Time, due to the fact that you are engaged in conceptual architectural design, I am wondering how you experience the given rationalism and constructivism of new forms of consciousness.
Sepideh: Time and space obviously play an essential role in understanding posthuman consciousness. In line with Foucault’s point regarding the social and cognitive consequences of the theoretical, practical and technical desanctification of time and space, I think there are inherent consequential connections between important transformations in the concepts of time and space and the re-cognition and consciousness of being human. Radical changes in the former induces changes in the latter.
Now I would like to explore some aspects of time and their relations with the posthuman consciousness
Emergent temporality, in the context of posthuman consciousness, refers to the interplay between states of complexity and perturbations that shape the perception and experience of time. It recognizes that time is not static but an emergent and ever-evolving phenomenon that is intertwined with cognitive processes both as what constitutes them from below in the sense of Husserl’s internal time-consciousness and as what is constituted at the top i.e., a well-formed temporalized and temporalizing consciousness.
Within the framework of emergent temporality, posthuman consciousness perceives time as a multidimensional construct within which it is implicated both from the perspective of the deep cosmological pasts and distant futures.
It is attentive to the nature of complexity or the fact that complex systems capture and display the interactions between deep pasts and futures, memories and anticipatory dynamics or trajectories at different scales.
In other words, posthuman consciousness recognizes that reality is characterized by various scales of complexity, from simple to super complex systems. Complexity influences the perception and experience of time and therefore, its consciousness since different scales of complexity entail different temporal dynamics, rhythms, patterns, memories and modes of experience.
From the standpoint of emergent temporality, the posthuman consciousness is a system of capacities, motivations and abilities finely tuned to navigate and engage with this emergent timescape which appears in the guise of complex systems with their perturbations, strictures and enabling influences upon consciousness and cognition.
Temporal Dynamics and Posthuman Consciousness:
Temporal dynamics refer to the ever-changing and interconnected nature of time within the cognitive landscape of posthuman consciousness. It suggests that time is not confined to a linear progression but encompasses a range of temporal phenomena, rhythms, and patterns that shape the perception and experience of posthumans.
Within the framework of temporal dynamics, posthuman consciousness embraces the non-linear and multidimensional aspects of time. It acknowledges that time is not merely a chronological sequence of events but a fluid and interconnected web of experiences, possibilities, and potentialities which can combine and ramify or clash and destroy one another.
We can say that posthuman consciousness concretely responds to the following realization: that temporal experiences are influenced by various factors, including cognitive processes, external stimuli, and the interaction between different cognitive modes. Posthuman beings can navigate and engage with temporal dynamics, adapting their cognitive processes to comprehend and integrate the diverse temporal dimensions.
Temporal dynamics then encompass the following key aspects within posthuman consciousness:
(1) Non-Linearity in the sense of ramifying, coinciding, asynchronous, criss-crossing and parallel trajectories and the capacity of the posthuman consciousness to see this nonlinear timescape through a synoptic view that does not become a debilitating vertigo for consciousness; (2) Multidimensionality which implies temporal dynamics consists of multiple dimensions or depths and breadths with their own distinct characteristics, rhythms, and patterns.
The posthuman is characterized by its ability to engage with these different temporal dimensions in the form of different modes of experience and thinking, or what can be called heterogenous temporal encounters with patterns and rhythms of life;
(3) Flexibility and Adaptability: Posthuman consciousness embraces flexibility and adaptability in perceiving and acting upon temporal dynamics. Posthumans can be defined by their competence in selectively adjusting their cognitive processes to accommodate and respond to a wide range of temporal demands of different contexts, tasks, or modes of cognition;
(4) Synchronization and Resonance in the sense that temporal dynamics involve the synchronization and resonance of cognitive processes with the temporal phenomena in the environment.
Posthumans can tune their cognitive rhythms to external temporal patterns, creating synergic resonances which enhance their cognitive and practical interactions with their surroundings that also happens to be a matrix for their cognitive evolution and maturation. It is by working through this space of resonances that their tensions with their environment can be resolved;
(5) Temporal Perception and Manipulation: Temporal dynamics within posthuman consciousness include the ability to perceive and manipulate temporal phenomena. Posthumans can discern subtle temporal nuances, detect temporal patterns, and even influence their temporal experiences of themselves and the world.
Emergent and dynamic temporalities can interweave with various physical and phenomenal registers of space to create additional categories for understanding the role of time and space in the development of the posthuman consciousness and its characteristics.
Take for example, Spatial Dimensions (e.g., spatial configurations, embodied spatiality), Temporal-Spatial Interactions (e.g., synchronic / asynchronous resonances, recursive temporal feedback), and Computational transcendental aesthetics (e.g., computational time and exteriorization of cognition through expansion of mnemonic technologies).
These categories help organize the different aspects related to time, space, and posthuman consciousness. The Temporal Modes category encompasses the various dimensions of time within posthuman cognition. The Spatial Dimensions category focuses on the relationship between spatial configurations and cognitive architectures.
The Temporal-Spatial Interactions category highlights the interplay between time and space in posthuman consciousness. Finally, the Computational Aspects category explores the role of computation in shaping temporal / spatial experiences and the expansion of the cognitive landscape.
Spyridon: lf I ask you to choose a Philosopher as a protagonist for an extra Science fiction project who would be and why?
Sepideh: In my science fiction project, I have a shared venture on a quest to explore the depths of the noumena, guided by an infinite twist introduced to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. As we set sail on an expeditionary ship, we begin to traverse territories hitherto uncharted and unfathomed, terrains which might be of this earth and world or another, populated by alien inhabitants who might be as well us but seen from the other side. That’s the thing about this noumenal or cosmological journey, it turns the phenomenal appearances of everything supposedly not extraterrestrial–human and of this earth–inside-out.
To navigate this boundless cosmic expanse, we employ mathematical models that serve as conceptual formula, uprooting and navigating our understanding, while bridging the realms of phenomena and noumena , we construct equations that encapsulate the interplay between observable reality and dimensions of existence hidden to mere experience.
Through this interdisciplinary integration of mathematics, science fiction, and philosophical inquiry, taking a cue from Kant, I aim to ignite the reader’s imagination and provoke contemplation about the nature of reality, consciousness, and our place within the cosmic tapestry.
As we sail,the ship becomes a transformative vessel, carrying us on an intellectual odyssey, echoing Kant’s vision of surpassing the limitations of our finite experiences without denying their constraints or discarding their significance in an escapist manner.
It is through this interplay of mathematical formulae, philosophical concepts, and the vessel of our imagination that we traverse on a journey of discovery, unlocking the secrets of the universe and encountering the enigmatic beings that await us in the cosmic depths, from within and without.
To get this point across in different terms, consider the wave function Ψ(x, y, z, t) that encapsulates the interplay between phenomena and noumena within the fabric of reality. We can express it as:
Ψ(x, y, z, t) = ∑ [Aₙ sin(kₙx) cos(ωₙt) + Bₙ sin(kₙy) cos(ωₙt) + Cₙ sin(kₙz) cos(ωₙt)]
here ∑ denotes the summation over an infinite series of terms, and Aₙ, Bₙ, and Cₙ represent the coefficients associated with each term. The parameters kₙ and ωₙ, unique to each term, signify the wave numbers and angular frequencies that contribute to the overall dynamics.
This formulation can be said to reflect the intricacies of our interdimensional voyage aboard the ship, navigating through uncharted waters to encounter cosmological inhabitants. The sin(kₙx), sin(kₙy), and sin(kₙz) terms epitomize the spatial oscillations and alignments, while the cos(ωₙt) terms represent the temporal undulations that weave together the intricate tapestry of experience as it begins to contract and expand across different seascapes.
As we modulate the coefficients Aₙ, Bₙ, and Cₙ, and adjusting their values, we sculpt the contours and intensities of our encounter with the unknown. The precise choices of kₙ and ωₙ unlock the frequencies and wavelengths that resonate with the enigmatic realms we seek to explore.
Deep within this complex web of mathematical complex lies the presence of the straight line, subtly concealed amidst the multitude of oscillations and undulations which make horizontal, vertical and diagonal ripples in the fabric of reality. It serves as a metaphorical bridge, connecting the known and unknown, the tangible and intangible, phenomenal and noumenal.
In light of the disappearance and the significance of sequences of appearances and disappearances, the narrative takes on a deeper exploration of the interplay between perception and the transcendental object’s inner sense.
As the ship journeys downstream, traversing through the sequences and series of analytic and synthetic states of perception, it ventures beyond the boundaries of our cognitive sphere. In this realm, the concept of empty time itself undergoes a transformation, where the conventional understanding of time and by extension, perception which is structured by time ceases to exist.
The sequences of appearances and disappearances hold a crucial role in this narrative, as they are not arbitrary but governed by a rule of apprehension derived from the sequence of appearances. This rule justifies the very existence of appearances themselves, grounding it in the transcendental object’s inner sense in relation to empty time.
Let F be a transcendental function denoting the interplay between states and agents, and let T represent the dimension of empty time itself. Consider the following formula:
F(T) = ∫ [∑ (αn * βm * γp * δq) * e^(iθ)] dT
Here, αn, βm, γp, and δq represent complex coefficients that capture the entangled relationships between states, agents, and cognitive dynamics. The exponential term e^(iθ) introduces the transcendental essence (Eidos), encapsulating the elusive nature of the interplay.
Within this involved formula, the integral operator ∫ signifies the holistic integration of states, merging past, present, and future into a labyrinthine continuum. The dT differential element represents infinitesimal increments of empty time, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of temporal dimensions.
Through the multiplication of coefficients, the formula captures the intricate web of connections between phenomena, noumena, and the transcendental subject.
By harnessing the power of this complex formula, one unlocks the transformative potential of the agent, transcending states and voyaging through the multilayered fabric of reality, unmarked and unbound by limitations which as the journey evolves are one by one revealed to have always been only conventions and illusions and not genuine constraints.
In this framework, reality is no longer understood solely through the progression of states of things. Instead, it follows the mediatory state, the state itself, which is intertwined with the apprehension of the sequence of appearances and disappearances. In this interplay, the presiding states of perception merge with the mediate of state, blurring the distinction between them.
Such an exploration leads us to contemplate the nature of reality, the limits of perception, and deep relationships between empty time, appearances, and the transcendental object which spread inwards and outwards.
Spyridon:There is a work that had a huge impact on Giles Deleuze deeper intellectual evolution, “Mathesis: or Studies on the Anarchy and Hierarchy of Knowledge” of the doctor Johann Malfatti de Montereggio.
Do you agree that somehow all the meaning to transpose the boundaries of human to Posthuman has related with the power to create in our age the perfect ratio of Anarchy and Hierarchy of Knowledge through a new state of Being and World?
Sepideh: I think the concept of transposition of the boundaries of the human to the posthuman implies an inherent tendency, disposition or even a telos which may rather oversimplify the complexity of the relations between where the human ends and where the posthuman starts and vice versa. The dynamics of tension between human and posthuman disrupts the traditional models of evolution between the two, from the human to the posthuman.
In a way, the posthuman is not exactly something besides or in alterity to the human, it is more an overcoming of the human from within than an act of obsoleting it from without. It is similar to how Jean-François Lyotard formulates the postmodern condition as an escape from modernity (postmodernism as a voguish cultural trope or style), but as a critique and an overcoming of the problems of modernity from the inside.Therefore, the dynamic between the human and the posthuman necessitates a more circuitous or lateral approach to how the human and the posthuman relate.
As for your question regarding Malfatti’s book and Deleuze’s preface to it, I think Deleuze gives a credence to Malfatti’s book not because he agrees or sympathizes with Malfatti’s occult quest of merging Tantric mysticism, Naturphilosophie, Brunonianism and Mesmerism into a theophilosophical theory of mathesis, but because he finds Malfatti’s quest a useful but eventually disposable placeholder for his own philosophical thoughts. In that sense, even though Deleuze is interested in mathesis as an integration of esoteric systems of knowledge and ecstatic or even cosmologically erotic systems of practices,
but he is not interested them as pursuits of the occult in the same way Malffati has approached mathesis, esoteric, ecstatic or erotic. Mathesis, for him, is the science of ideas as problematics. Philosophy is exactly the name of this science entitled to the same respect as other sciences, but this is a concept of philosophy which is different from the sort of philosophy that is often being contrasted with science because it is deeply embedded in “a monism elaborated on the basis of lived experience.” (Robin Mackay introduction to Collapse III, Urbanomic, 2007)
This is philosophy as a science that operates on the basis of ecstatic transformative practices and heterogenous (esoteric) forms of knowledge, always internally and intensively fluctuates between hierarchy and anarchy as poles, planes and plexuses of ideas and practices without ever succumbing to the temptations of only one pole or plane. Therefore, the model of this mathesis is persistently embryonic.
It is an embryo in a state that actively refuses and is prior the development of specialized organs or differentiations towards sedentarization. Here, we can replace specialized organs with necessary but also sometimes stifling specializations which happen in academic philosophy. A different way to put it is by saying that mathesis between anarchy and hierarchy is a hermaphrodite science or knowledge to refer back to Malfatti’s work.
As to whether transposing the boundaries of the human to the posthuman reflects mathesis in the sense I mentioned (the perfect ratio between anarchy and hierarchy), yes, perhaps that might be the case. But also I think, this transposition is not by itself adequate to address the complex relations between the human and the posthuman.
The immanental immersion of the human into the nonhuman only accounts for one side of this story, and needs to be complemented with a transcendental unbinding which can only take place by the human reassessing and sometimes relinquishing the limitations it has imposed on itself.
It remains unclear whether the concept of “world” in the posthuman context aligns with the same understanding as it does for humans. Moreover, the notion of “being” already carries its own conceptual nuances, which necessitate comprehensive clarification within the context of posthumanism.
Spyridon: The notions of “World and Being “ are remnants of my past Phenomenological inclination to Husserl and Heidegger but here is closer to Worldbuilding approach from the Logical Positivism of Vienna Circle.”
Sepideh : If we look at worldbuilding in a sense similar to what Nelson Goodman has put forward in his book Ways of Worldmaking but minus Goodman’s other claims about the status of world-versions, etc, I think we can find a continuity between worldbuilding and the phenomenological preoccupations of Husserl.
We structure the world by projecting concepts and predicates onto the world (projectibles) but we can also make worlds by systematically not whimsically playing around with projectibles and redefining the labor of projection or structuring. This is very much in tandem with the fundamental role of imagination (phantasie) in the work of Husserl where the structuring of the world and the engagement with appearances is not a passive activity, but a dynamic and an active one.
Spyridon: Present us the concept,aims and the traces you wanna produce with the Symposium “ Intelligence Unbound: Navigating the Dynamics of Human-Posthuman Evolution
Sepideh: Aligned with the principles of philosophical anthropology, synchronized with the evolution of technics, scientific programs, and socio-historical concerns, the symposium aims to encapsulate the self-augmenting and transformative nature of intelligence and its unfolding within the ever-changing dynamic between humans and posthumans, recognizing the inherent tension between them.
The framework does not neglect the human element or uncritically assume access to an unbound nature or alterity in the pursuit of posthuman ideals. Instead, it strives to critically navigate this complex dynamic, fully acknowledging the pivotal role of intelligence in reshaping this multifaceted landscape.
The symposium will employ a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on diverse fields, such as cognitive science, philosophy, anthropology, biology, and computation. It will foster interdisciplinary dialogue, critical thinking, and innovative ideas by bringing together heterogeneous perspectives. It will encompass a range of research methodologies, including theoretical analysis, empirical studies, artistic practice, and speculative inquiry, within the context of interactive workshops and collaborative dialogues.
It encourages the integration of various theoretical frameworks such as posthumanism, rationalism, transhumanism, critical philosophy, and ethical considerations, among others, to provide a comprehensive exploration of the transformative nature of intelligence and its implications for the human-posthuman dynamic.
The aims and the traces we want produce with the Symposium includes:
The Transformation of Human Intelligence and its Evolution
- The Historical and Future Trajectories of Human Intelligence:
- Cognitive, Embodiment, and Consciousness Transformations:
- Cognitive Development and Advancements in Technologies: ‘
The Intersection of Technology, Ethics, and Societal Implications
- Artificial General Intelligence, Ethics, and Post-Scarcity Societies
- Intelligence, Artificial Consciousness, and Ethical Considerations:
- Ecological and Technological Perturbations:
Cognitive Processes and Philosophical Perspectives
- Cognitive Processes, Emerging Technologies, and Philosophical Perspectives:
- Philosophical Anthropology and the Posthuman Condition:
- Conceptualization and Intuitionistic Approaches to Understanding Intelligence:
Impacts of Technology on Consciousness, Autonomy, and Agency
- Agency and Autonomy in the Posthuman Context:
- Human-Posthuman Hybridity and Identity Formation:
Implications of Unbound Intelligence and Human-Non-Human Relationships
- Trajectories and Implications of Unbound Intelligence and Human-Non-Human Relationships:
- Social and Cultural Impacts of Posthuman Intelligence:
- Epistemological and Ontological Dimensions of Posthuman Intelligence:
Influence of Technology on Creativity, Aesthetics, and Human Enhancement
- The Aesthetic and Creative Potentials of Artificial Intelligence:
- The Future of Intelligence: Speculative and Futuristic Perspectives:
