Alan N. Shapiro, Hypermodernism, Hyperreality, Posthumanism

Blog and project archive about media theory, science fiction theory, and creative coding

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Cultural Citizenship in Contemporary America, by Alan N. Shapiro

February 12th, 2013 in the categories: Consumer Culture, Jean Baudrillard

The damaged life of the fragmented individual, performing his duties in the system of production, is circumscribed by a universe of self-referential images and solipsistic spaces which sustain his socialization in that system.
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Re-Thinking Science, by Alan N. Shapiro

February 11th, 2013 in the categories: Rethinking Science

Influenced by Heidegger’s “The Question Concerning Technology,” Adorno and Horkheimer’s "Dialectic of Enlightenment," and Kubrick and Clarke’s "2001: A Space Odyssey," I believe that we have come to the end of the long era of technology being conceived and developed as a tool for the ‘domination of nature’.
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An Interdisciplinary Approach to Building Robots, by Alan N. Shapiro

February 10th, 2013 in the categories: Robotism

I will now outline a programme of 7 concrete near-term steps that a large robotics manufacturing company should take on the road towards introducing robots-slash-androids to the consumer public.
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International Flusser Lecture, by Alan N. Shapiro

February 9th, 2013 in the categories: Computer Science 2.0, Media Studies

On July 10, 2012, I gave the International Flusser Lecture at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Related to this lecture, a small book by me in German will be published in the International Flusser Lecture series by the Walther Koenig Verlag.
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Towards a Unified Existential Science of Humans and Androids, by Alan N. Shapiro

February 8th, 2013 in the categories: Androids & Artificial Life, Robotism

There are two ways of thinking about robots or androids, distinguished by the different associations evoked by the two terms robot and android. We want to synthesize the two perspectives.
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Seminar on the Future of Reading and Learning at the Offenbach Arts and Design University

February 2nd, 2013 in the categories: Seminars

This page provides information to the students in the seminar. Last updated December 30th.
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Art and Design in the Age of New Media and New Technologies, by Alan N. Shapiro

February 1st, 2013 in the categories: Future Design

Audio recording of my January 16th, 2013 lecture at the Bath Spa University, Bath School of Art and Design. "A very important and significant manifestation of your thought. The most coherent and systematic comments about technology, ALife and science [in a lecture by you so far]." -- Nolan Bazinet
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“Software of the Future” on Tour, by Alan N. Shapiro

January 31st, 2013 in the categories: Future Design

This is not about "programming for artists" -- it is about a new kind of programming by artists, and it is a programming that has almost nothing to do with what we currently understand by programming.
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“Mad Men” and the Sociology of Advertising Consumer Culture, by Venecia Suriel de Häusler

January 25th, 2013 in the categories: Media Studies

A new consumer culture emerged in which the advertising industry functions as a central medium to create and promote product images. "Mad Men" depicts with striking fidelity the original business context of the American advertising industry of the 1960s.
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“Lost”: eine Typisierung der weiblichen Hauptcharaktere, von Melissa Maier

January 25th, 2013 in the categories: Lost

Kate durchläuft mehrere Phasen mit unterschiedlichen Gender-Identitäten. So verkörpert sie die moderne Frau des 21. Jahrhunderts, die durch ihre unabhängige, starke Art glänzt und dabei sehr maskulin wirkt, doch ist sie eben „nur“ ein typisches Mädchen, dass viel zu emotional, schwach und verletzlich ist.
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Macht- und Hierarchieverhältnisse am Beispiel von „The Wire“, von Jaška Klocke

January 25th, 2013 in the categories: Media Studies

Es interessiert mich vor allem die Frage, in wie weit sich Macht auf der einen Seite in den Strukturen des Drogenkartells im Western Baltimores angeführt von Avon Barksdale, mit den hierarchischen Machtstrukturen innerhalb der polizeilichen Sonderkommission und deren Vorgesetzten ähneln.
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“The Wire” and Luhmann’s Systems Theory, by Yara Scholtis

January 25th, 2013 in the categories: Media Studies

The Wire’s exploration of sociological themes is truly exceptional. Indeed I do not hesitate to say that it has done more to enhance our understandings of the challenges of urban life and urban inequality than any other media event or scholarly publication, including studies by social scientists.
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“Lost”: Der Pilotfilm, Symbole und wiederkehrende Themen, von Vanessa Berkler

January 25th, 2013 in the categories: Lost

Die erfolgreiche TV-Serie "Lost" startete im Jahr 2004 und endete im Jahr 2010 nach sechs Staffeln und 121 Folgen. Inhalt ist der Flugzeugabsturz des Oceanic Flight 815, bei dem 48 Überlebende auf einer einsamen, geheimnisvollen Insel stranden.
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“Lost” und Literatur, von Concetta Altmaier

January 25th, 2013 in the categories: Lost

Unsere Gesellschaft sowie die Geisteswissenschaften neigen dazu, kulturelle Erzeugnisse, zu denen sowohl Bücher als auch Medien gehören, in verschiedene qualitative Ränge zu unterteilen. Gehört die Literatur zur sogenannten Hochkultur, wird dem Fernsehen und auch den Fernsehserien diese Einstufung meist verwehrt.
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Reality and Simulation in “The Prisoner,” by Caroline Fuchs

January 25th, 2013 in the categories: Jean Baudrillard, Media Studies

For most of the Villagers it is not possible to separate between what is real and what is simulated. A simulation is created in The Village through the use of media. But what if most of what the Villagers do, see and live is a simulation? Can there even be a reality behind that façade?
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