Embedded Files
Presentations schedule (and Surveillance Capitalism)
Presentations schedule (and Surveillance Capitalism)
Times are approximate! Wednesday 7th April, Room: UL 102
4pm: Malik, Jade, Evan, Jack
4.10: Shuwen, Lizzie, Ella, Nisha, Sophia, Danqi
4.20: Ethan, Rhea, Eric, Esther
4.30: Aviv, Carrie, Jen, Abby
4.40: Bex, Yurong, Xiaowei
4.50: Carter, Shiqian, Shiwei, Natasha
Some instagram accounts to follow:
Some instagram accounts to follow:
NSSR news: https://www.instagram.com/nssrnews/
Student Academic Workers Union: https://www.instagram.com/sens_uaw/
New School Student Workers Union: https://www.instagram.com/newstudentworkersunion/
Al Sur, Latin American Solidarity Project: https://www.instagram.com/alsurtns/
Even if you are not directly affiliated with the NSSR or are not part of the unions, I highly recommend following these accounts and go to their Know Your Rights events and protests. The unions are one of the most important communities and mediators of solidarity and knowledge in times like these. Get in contact! Make friends!
Reading schedule
Reading schedule
Springtime in Chernobyl should be finished before March 5th.
Nausicaä
We want to finish chapters 1 and 2 before the Nausicaä discussion on March 19th and the whole 7 chapters before April 9th.
Here is a reading schedule that we can follow (the dates are 'finish by'):
February 26th: Chapter 1
March 5th: Chapter 2 (and Springtime in Chernobyl)
March 12th: Chapter 3
March 19th: Chapter 4
March 26th: Chapter 5
April 2nd: Chapter 6
April 9th: Chapter 7
Project proposal template
Project proposal template
Where does uranium come from?
Where does uranium come from?
When we look at the effects of indurstries such as the production of nuclear energy, we have to look at both the products and their effects and the manufacturing process. Here is a video about the terrible practices of uranium mining inside of the U.S.
Some speculate that the reason the current U.S. administration is looking to violently take over Greenland is partly due to uranium deposits.
When we are looking at energy industries, we cannot only ask whether it is 'green', but also question the underlying assumption that we need infininitely more energy.
Maybe the coolest flag ever?
Maybe the coolest flag ever?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheleznogorsk,_Krasnoyarsk_Krai
Manufacturing Consent
Manufacturing Consent
Here is an interesting video, both for its content, but I also love the graphics!
A rabbit hole for power/freedom/truth
A rabbit hole for power/freedom/truth
Here is Slavoj Zizek, a famous pop philosopher who likes dirty jokes and weird anectdotes. I think it is in this video that he claims: We are unfree, and our unfreedom is in the fact that we do not know how we are unfree.
Episteme is Greek for knowledge, epistemic thus relates to knowledge. Epistemic violence is the exclusion of knowledge, epistemic injustice is unjust structures of verification: think of someone who is not believed just because they are a woman, or colored (the trope of the angry black woman is a terribly good example), or whatever. Epistemic exploitation is when a person of power makes a marginalized person explain something and share their knowledge and experience, just to be dismissed or gaslighted.
Foucault was one of the most important theorists of the last century and is the most cited author in the humanities today. He tries to map the structures of power and how it is inherently tied to knowledge production and truth.
Foucault wrote about how power disciplines us, Deleuze takes this into the 21st century with the idea of control. Think about the difference between a library (exclusive, we are disciplined to be silent) and the internet (open access, you can do whatever you want, but then the power lies not with the librarian but who owns the platform of access, who allows you to 'do whatever you want'?).
Some sci-fi/post-human movie recommendations
Some sci-fi/post-human movie recommendations
Stalker by Tarkovsky, based on the short story Roadside Picnic
It is iconic and one of the best films ever made. It is slow, butexplores themes such as humanity, religion and meaning. Its aesthetics are amazing, balancing nature and post-human industry. Also, fore-shadewed the Chernobyl exclusion zone to an extent. The texture of it!
Solaris by Tarkovsky, a response to Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey
Apparently Tarkovsky thought Kubrick's spaceship was too clean, and he wanted his to feel like a run down bus. Tackles themes of humanity and extreme otherness. All of Tarkovsky's movies are masterpieces.
Blade Runner, a must see! Based on Philip K Dick's story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The quintessential post-human movie, what makes us human? Dystopian aesthetics extraordinaire.
Blade Runner 2043, a sequel to the previous Blade Runner, I think it plays with very interesting themes of identity and memory.
Golem by Szulkin, a polish movie exploring similar themes to Blade Runner.
Again, what makes us human? It is a scathing criticism of both Soviet Poland and the fantasy of the Western world. Also has an amazing poster design!
On Hauntology and the Eerie
On Hauntology and the Eerie
Here is a video outlining the argument that we have no future any more! How dystopian! Why do we still look to Blade Runner for an idea of the future?
On Authority of Design
On Authority of Design
It is also very interesting to look at Walter Benjamin's theory that fascism is the aestheticization of politics, here is a video analysing fascism, and here is one looking at Prada and Fascism.
Hey all!
Hey all!
Here is a lecture on Post-Humanism from a philosophical perspective. I think it could be very fruitful to engage with and get an idea of what "the Post-Human" and Post-Humanism means and then to contrast it with Trans-Humanism! Hope you get a chance to check it out!
On Utopias and Dystopias (and hyperreality?)
On Utopias and Dystopias (and hyperreality?)
As this week we will be discussing utopias and dystopias, I wanted to share with you a short quote from America, by Baudrillard:
"America is neither dream nor reality. It is a hyperreality. It is a hyperreality because it is a utopia which has behaved from the very beginning as though it were already achieved." (p28, emphasis mine)
Baudrillard wrote Simulacra and Simulation, one of the main inspirations for the Matrix movies! Here are some videos that might be of interest:
On American Psycho and Baudrillard and How Baudrillard hated the Matrix
I think this is a cool visualization of the (simplified) mechanics of Atoms.
If we go with the stadium metaphor and look at an the Uranium-235 isotope used in nuclear reactors, then we have 235 peas in the middle of the stadium and to split them in two we shoot a pea (Neutron) to crash into the pile of 235 peas and split it, creating two stadiums!
More on Nuclear Fuel and Uranium Mining Protests
A note from Christopher: You can see some of these scales modeled in real life, for free, at the Rose Center for Earth and Space (the planetarium hall) at The American Museum of Natural History here in NYC on 81st and Central Park West! (https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/scales-of-the-universe)
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