Kunstmatig van nature. Onderweg naar Homo sapiens 3.0
Jos de Mul, Kunstmatig van nature. Onderweg naar Homo sapiens 3.0. Rotterdam: Lemiscaat: 2016.
ISBN 978 90 477 0925 1
De 1ste druk (10.000 exemplaren) verscheen in 2014 als Essay van de Maand van de Filosofie en werd eveneens uitgegeven door Uitgeverij Lemniscaat.
In Kunstmatig van nature bespreekt Jos de Mul de betekenis van recente ontwikkelingen in de robotica, neurowetenschappen en biotechnologie voor ons zelfbegrip en dagelijks leven. Wat te denken van de Japanse humanoïde robot Miim, ontworpen door Kazuhito Yokoi, die kan dansen, zingen en kleding showen op de catwalk? Zullen dergelijke robots dankzij erotische programmatuur, net als in de sciencefiction-serie Real Humans, een commercieel succes worden? Of neem het experiment van de Amerikaanse neurowetenschapper Miguel Nicolelis die elektroden in de hersenen van een resusaapje heeft aangebracht om de neuronenactiviteit tijdens zijn bewegingen te registeren. De aldus verkregen informatie brengt via het internet elders in de wereld de robot CB-1 in beweging. Een kleine stap voor de robot, maar een gigantische sprong voor het aapje -- en mogelijk in de nabije toekomst ook voor dwarslaesiepatiënten.
Op biotechnologisch gebied heeft men alternatieven ontwikkeld voor het DNA, het ‘bouwplan’ van al het leven. Terwijl de evolutie ooit bestond uit natuurlijke selectie, betreden we met deze alien genetics het tijdperk van kunstmatige selectie. Mogen we hiermee planten, dieren en mensen ‘verbeteren’? Deze nieuwe technologieën vergroten niet alleen onze kennis van het leven op aarde -- ze zijn allang begonnen dat leven fundamenteel te transformeren. Wie we zijn en wat we willen worden, is meer dan ooit een open vraag, een opgave. Zijn wij, ‘de eeuwig toekomstigen’ volgens Nietzsche, onderweg naar Homo sapiens 3.0?
‘Worden wij de eerste soort op aarde die zijn eigen evolutionaire opvolger gaat scheppen?’ -- Jos de Mul
‘Grote eruditie en lucide kijk op veranderingen in de hedendaagse cultuur.’ -- Marc Van den Bossche over Cyberspace Odyssee in Standaard der Letteren
‘Gloedvol pleidooi voor een tragisch levensbesef.’ -- Arnold Heumakers over De domesticatie van het noodlot in nrc Handelsblad
'Ik wou dat ik als student zoiets had kunnen lezen' - Piet Hut (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) over Kunstmatig van nature
Meeting OSCAR and Erica
Jos de Mul. Meeting OSCAR and Erica. On almost living bodies, new media aesthetics, and the East-West divide. In Aesthetics and Mass Culture. Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Aesthetics. Seoul: Seoul National University, Invited Round Table. Seoul: Seoul National University, 2017,. 64-69.
Abstract In this paper OSCAR, the protagonist of the online science fiction project The Modular Body of Dutch media artist Floris Kaayk, meets Erica, an android robot, functioning as an autonomous conversation partner, and designed by the Japanese robotic engineer Hiroshi Ishiguro. It will be argued that these two cultural artifacts, despite striking similarities (both are advanced products of reductionist converging technologies, balancing between fiction and reality, and embedded in the mass medium environment of the Internet), from an ontological perspective they embody two different attitudes towards robots and artificial intelligences. Whereas The Modular Body is prototypical for the Christian Western worldview in which android robots are under taboo, the Asian love for android robots like Erica, which mimic human appearance and behavior as close as possible, is connected with the reflective anthropomorphism that characterizes Eastern religions like Buddhism and Shintoism. Although we should be aware of a digital revival of orientalism (the more because in our globalizing world we increasingly exchange and share cultural forms, information and communication technologies being obvious examples), Westerners may learn something from Eastern robotics. Because of their religious traditions Asian people may be better prepared for the conceptualization and design of a society in which humans and artificial lifeforms harmoniously live together.
The Earth Garden. Going Back or Going Forward to Nature?
Jos de Mul. The Earth Garden: Going Back or Going Forward to Nature? Frontiers of Philosophy in China. Vol.12 (2017) 2: 237-248.
Abstract Against the background of a short meditation on the contrasting ways in which landscape has been represented and idealized in Eastern and Western painting traditions, the article will try to show, using some striking examples, that the development of landscape painting in the last two centuries reflects the changing relationship of humanity and nature, leading in both the East and in the West to either the expression of a nostalgic longing for nature to be back as it once was, or to a gloomy expression of the vanishing of nature amidst the modern, technological world. Connecting to both the concept of “harmony,” which is a key concept in Eastern aesthetics, and to some recent reflections in Western philosophy on the relationship of nature and technology, a post-nostalgic conception of nature and natural beauty is defended, in which nature and technology are no longer seen as opposing categories, but rather as poles that are intertwined in an ever-lasting process of co-evolution. It is argued that we should not so much strive to go “back to nature,” but rather to go “forward to nature” and establish a new harmony between human and non-human nature and technology. The article ends with some reflections on the role artists and aestheticians may play in this transformation.
Keywords environmental pollution, environmental aesthetics, philosophy of nature, comparative aesthetics, philosophy of technology
Turkish Delight. The lesson to be learnt from Commagene
Jos de Mul. Turkish Delight. In: Ayşen Savaş & Sevin Osmay (eds.), Jale Erzen Testimonial. Middle East Technical University (METU) Press, 2017, 146-152.
Of all the times I met with Jale Erzen over the last couple of decades, our meeting in May 2002 was perhaps the most memorable. Jale had invited me to take part in the 6th International Symposium of SANART about Art and Social Engagement, held at the Middle East Technical University (METU). The Symposium took place shortly after 9/11, a time when many heated discussions were held in Turkey, just as in other countries, about the political Islam, the role of religion in society, and the separation of church and state, and in Ankara the tension was running high between the Kemalists and the politicians inspired by the Islam.
Following the conference, I went on a short trip with Jale and about ten other philosophers, from five different continents, to the east of Turkey, which was planned by Jale. We flew to Diyarbakir and then travelled on by bus and later by jeep through the northern part of the virtual state of Kurdistan. It was a memorable trip because of several reasons. In the first place because of the awe-inspiring endless bleak mountains around us, in which the only humans living there seem to be goatherds herding their flocks in search of the last remnants of vegetation. It was difficult to imagine a bigger contrast with the polders in Zeeland where I grew up. The impression the vast and rugged landscape made on me was intensified by the realisation that we were surrounded by thousands of years of history. This vast region situated 'between the rivers', the Euphrates and the Tigris, used to be called Mesopotamia in ancient times and was full of fig-, olive-, walnut- and pomegranate trees, vines and oleander bushes. According to tradition here was once the Biblical Garden of Eden.
Preface. In: Zha Changping. World Relational Aesthetics. A History of Ideas in Pioneering Contemporary Chinese Art
Jos de Mul. Preface. In: Zha Changping. World Relational Aesthetics. A History of Ideas in Pioneering Contemporary Chinese Art. Volume One. Shanghai: Sanlian, 2017, xiv-xvi, xvii-xx.
In 2006, as part of a lecture tour through China, which brought me to cities as different as Urumqi and Shanghai, I also participated in a conference of the International Association of Aesthetics in Chengdu. It was on this occasion that I met Zha Changping for the first time. I was introduced to him by a common friend of us, the Shanghai-based historian Chen Xin. During my stay in Chengdu, Changping and I had several conversations, and I especially remember one hot evening in June, whenwe, together with museum sculptor Zhu Cheng and my wife Gerry, were sitting on a terrace near the Fu river, discussing the state of contemporary art, religion and politics in China and Europe, meanwhile enjoying the delicious Sichuan food and cool beers and watching the joyful play of the little children on the terrace. It was a wonderful evening, to which my memories often return.
Since that first meeting more than ten years have passed, in which Changping and I kept in touch. I followed his publications (unfortunately only being able to read the English ones, as I am not able to read Chinese) and was impressed by his productivity andthe broad scope of his publications, ranging from art criticism and art history – such as the very informative Up-On Chengdu, Somatic Aesthetics and Scene Connection (2013) - to studies in the logic of history, Japanese history, New Testament studies, and a series of translations. What moreover impressed me was his profound familiarity with Western art theories and the creative way he applied them within a Chinese context. Changping proved to be all-round humanities scholar with an inspiring intercultural approach.
Human nature after Neo-Darwinism
Jos de Mul. Human nature after Neo-Darwinism. in: Eidos .A Journal for Philosophy of Culture.Special issue: Is the Category of Human Nature Still Relevant? Vol 1 (2017), 1: 5-17.
Abstract
In the course of the 20th century the so-called Modern Synthesis of Neo-Darwinism has become the dominant paradigm in modern biology. First, it is explained how and why Darwin’s broad definition of evolution, in which the environment plays an important role, was narrowed down by Neo-Darwinism to a radical gene-centric view. Next, the paradigm shift taking place today in ‘postgenomic’ evolutionary biology and genetics is discussed. It is argued that this shift opens the way to a more humane conception of evolution, more in line with Darwin’s view. Finally, I will discuss some of the implications of this paradigm shift for human self-reflection, taking The Music of Life. Biology Beyond Genes of systems biologist Denis Noble as a starting point.
Keywords
Neo-Darwinism, Dennis Noble, gene-centrism, postgenomics, agency, human self-reflection
2016-09-30 (Den Bosch) Ontzaglijke kunst. Over het natuurlijke en technologisch sublieme
Jos de Mul. Ontzaglijke kunst. Over het natuurlijke en technologisch sublieme. Studium Generale Art, Nature & Technology. AKV|St.Joost in Den Bosch, 30 september 2016.
English summary.
Every once in a while we experience something extraordinary. Such ‘awesome’ experiences might happen in our research, when we unexpectedly discover something really amazing, or when we come across a magnificent landscape, hear a piece of music that really moves us, or when we fall deeply in love. Traditionally these kinds of extraordinary experiences are called “sublime”. In the following I will present some reflections on one particular kind of sublimity: the technological sublime.
I will develop my argument in three parts. First I will point out the meaning and history of the concept of the sublime. Next, I will argue that in de twentieth century, the sublime has transformed from a natural to a technological category. In the third and last part I will defend the thesis that in the age of biotechnologies the technological sublime becomes a natural category again, which leaves us with some uncanny questions.
From Yijing to Hypermedia: Some Notes on Computer-mediated Literary Theory and Criticism
Jos de Mul. From Yijing to Hypermedia: Some Notes on Computer-mediated Literary Theory and Criticism. In: Peng Feng (ed.), Aesthetics and Contemporary Art. International Yearbook of Aesthetics. Volume 16. Beijing University: 2016, 114-125.
The development and global dissemination of computers - from the mainframe computers in the middle of the 20th century up to the smart phones that enable us to be online everywhere at any time - has an enormous impact on virtually every domain in human life, including art and literature. In the past decades, we have witnessed the emergence of different kinds of new media, that – among many other things – also have given birth to new art forms and genres, such as computer animations, hypertext, and interactive netart. All these new (that is: computer-mediated) media can be called “hypermedia”, because they share two fundamental characteristics: they are media that are both multimedial and non-linear.
In this contribution I will discuss the impact of hypermedia on literary theory and criticism. More particularly, the question I will focus on in my lecture is: how to write about hypermedia? In what ways do hypermedia affect literary theory and literary criticism. However, when writing about hypermedia, literature can only be a point of departure of our examination. After all, hypermedia are media that absorb and thereby re-mediate the other “old media”, literature included.[1] And this, as I will argue, also applies to literary theory and literary criticism, which at least partly is going to be transformed into hypermedial criticism.
2017-03-28 (Erasmus Today) Panic in the Polder
Geert Maarse. Panic in the Polder. Interview with Jos de Mul. Erasmus Today, March 28, 2017.
Panic in the Polder or how the Netherlands can survive populism. Days before the Dutch elections professor Jos de Mul spoke on Erasmus Studio, presenting his book ‘Paniek in de polder’ (Panic in the Polder) in which he analyses the so called fight between ‘the people’ and ‘the elites’. He also explains the popularity of Donald Trump and Geert Wilders among populist voters. The question is: who are these populists? And is our democracy in crisis?