While the posthuman is an area that has gathered quite a lot of contention, the views embraced by David Simpson and Rosi Braidotti give an idea of both ends of the spectrum of thought. David’s presentation is full of hope for a future that, given the right checks and controls will create an age of super-intelligent humans and machines that could also be characterized by super empathy. David manages to coalesce the idea that above-average intelligence (through examples like philanthropist Bill Gates) is proportional to a strong sense of empathy. While dubious in the sense that not all super-intelligent people are good empathisers, he presents the notion as the cherry on the cake, in an unavoidable race towards the super-intelligent organism. In other words, we need not fear AI, virtuality and transhumanism because they can be managed by good people.
Rosi Braidotti’s speech is several notches more complex as it is embedded in history and culture of humanism and post-humanism but she brings out a couple of enlightening points. Technologies are there for those that can afford them. While technologically-developed countries can afford to step-up their powers, third world countries are wallowing in the debris and garbage that comes from a society that generates huge amounts of electronic waste with poor communities that live on the edges of these digital waste favelas. (which reminded me of several films and animations like Blade Runner, WallE and the Matrix) . It is true that we are moving towards an age of posthumanism, yet the world has failed to control climate change, poverty, migration and a number of other maladies that have been discussed for the past decades.
VS