the first topic introduced by you is a question on "what ways can narcissism
and anthropocentrism be applied to a post or trans or meta human?", the idea
of the artwork that inspires this subject, *Is There Love in The Technoetic
Narcissus?* is clearly against the -centrism, not matter if is anthropically
or animally or technologically driven, from the point of view of the
humankind we have an urgence to shift from ego-centrism to *eco*-centrism.
This term is a good start.
The term was adopted in Italy by Wu Ming 1 a very well known writer (one of
a group named Wu Ming) in his latest book *New Italian Epic *(Einaudi 2009).
The title is a definition to describe a body of literary works which share
various stylistic characteristics, thematic constants and an underlying
allegorical nature. The last chapter is about the new definition of
eco-centrism: humans are not necessary, we are exempedable: there is an
urgence to shift from ego-centric point of view to eco-centric.
So the question is if a Human Enhancement is still a form of hyper cultural
narcisism? And if yet: is the telos of our species? In this case we are
fundamentally a narcisistic specie, so it is not a neurosis but a
fundamental routine of our gender?
We know the misunderstanding on evolution of species as something with a
direction or a refinement, in order to really understand the work of Darwin
we have to speak to differentiation by speciation (that not include any
given refinement);
We have to consider the idea of *Chance and Necessity* (New York, Alfred A.
Knopf, 1971), a book of Jaques Monod in which the nobel prize retrieve the
classic old Greek idea (Heraclitus) on the absence of an aim a *telos*.
The Human Cultural Narcissism could seems a sort of principle that recover
the Telos.
So we can go directly to your (natasha) last question: *Nevertheless, if and
when humans diversify further and into a distributed cognition, what image
will ego see when looking into a mirror? This reflection could frighten us
deeply or give us immeasurable psychological
relief.*
Indeed a frightening image if we keep our monotheistic vision of the realm,
but not if we will be capable to open us to new vision of the world were the
world became a plurality of worlds in which humankind is hosted
francesco
2010/4/21 Natasha Vita-More <natasha@natasha.cc>
> Thank you Francesco for introducing this topic. There are many angles to
> look at and routes to take in setting on a trek through the richness of
> your
> material. I'd like to start with a first post, and more will follow:
>
>
> In what ways can narcissism and anthropocentrism be applied to a human who
> is unleashing biology and engaging a bio-synthetic zone of existence?
> Human
> enhancement projects have a goal and that is to take biology out of its
> fixed nature and turn it into a workable palate. Design labs such as H+
> Lab, DIYbio and DIYgenomics encourage new theory and practice for those who
> want to be at the center of their own evolving bio-synthetic system.
>
> Do-it-yourself human enhancement domain has a certain familiarity. For
> example, the theory and practice of second-order cybernetics placed its
> formidable authors-Norbert Wiener, Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead, as a
> type of subjective elitism, in a claim that the observer must be included
> in
> the system in order for the system to exist. If the mind/brain is central,
> if not pivotal, to a cybernetic system, would this be the epitome of an
> anthropocentric, self-referential human-machine? Further, in that
> technology's tools are most often available to those who partake in
> highly-financed projects, such as the Biological Computer Laboratory at the
> University of Illinois (1958-1975), and the lab is referred to as the
> "Nerve" and its founder, Heinz von Foerster as its head, would that not
> ever
> so more characterize this milieu as narcissistic at its best?
>
> Alternatively, designating one's experience of existence at the locus of
> one's future experiences makes sense. Who would know how you think and
> feel
> better than you?
>
> Nevertheless, if and when humans diversify further and into a distributed
> cognition, what image will ego see when looking into a mirror? This
> reflection could frighten us deeply or give us immeasurable psychological
> relief.
>
>
> Natasha Vita-More
>
>
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