Future Based x Inverse Surveillance with Aidan Lyon
The presence and increasing use of surveillance in our daily lives means our awareness and engagement need to be active as much as it is theoretical. During the course of this podcast series, host Abdelrahman Hassan and the The Asimov Institute Director Stefan Leijnen, will go into conversation with experts about the various areas of surveillance. Each episode examines the relationship between algorithms and power structures, how they shape each other and how they shape the governed subject. The most important part of the podcast, is how we can debunk existing power frames in order to create new ones: What rules or concepts can be employed to shift existing power structures? This podcast series aims to find a more unidirectional blueprint for future governance systems, and will be the point of departure of the hackathon in the Summer of 2021, organized by the Inverse Surveillance AI project.
The Realities of Migraines
Text: Sabine Winters / Photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash ‘Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obligated, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.’ – Susan Sontag (2002) This essay provides a reflection on the diagnosis of migraines and the function of language use about the disease. Public perspectives on migraines and terms used to describe (symptoms of) the disease have created a relationship between the characteristics attributed to patients and the actual disease itself. This essay examines the
The Reality of Symbiosis
Sometimes reality catches up with fiction really fast. In their work, designer Noam Youngrak Son often experiments with blurring boundaries between science fiction and reality. Whether it concerns speculative scenario’s on the value of viruses or a book specifically written for bats. In this podcast host Annika van den Born goes into conversation with Noam on the hidden sex live of eels, the sexist attitude of electric cables and why we should definitely rethink the great myth of evolution on growth and self-persistence in a more symbiotic way. Noam Youngrak Son are an Eindhoven-based designer. They inscribe myths for the underrepresented in various mediums, from books to performances to 3d printed sex toys. They are excited about the unexpectedness that a well-designed fiction can open up, and
Nonhuman Nonsense: The Paradox of Anthropomorphism
Nonhuman Nonsense challenges the consensus with speculative art-sci projects. Trough design and art, they open up the discussion and enable access to underlying layers of politics, ethics and metaphysics. In this third podcast in the series 'Beyond Human Relations, Annika van den Born goes into conversation about how they transmute our relationship to the non-human, by embracing the contradictory and the paradoxical – telling stories that open the public imaginary to futures that currently seem impossible. Nonhuman Nonsense is founded by Leo Fidjeland and Linnea Våglund, it is based between Berlin and Stockholm. Shownotes: 00:01:00 Introduction and relation tot he nonhuman / 00:07:00 The Pink Chicken Project / 00:12:00 Balancing speculations, debate and practice / 00:16:00 Pink Chicken on UN Conference / 00:20:00 Eating stones /
Events:
No longer purely figures in science fiction, robots make up a progressively larger part of society due to developments in artificial intelligence. As we guide ourselves through our evolving relationships with robots assisting us in a diverse range of disciplines, such as well-being, health, and sex, we form our own ideas about what human-machine interaction
Often going beyond the standard discourse, climate fiction depicts alternative scenario’s to climate change. For example, in Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, a team of scientists explore the expanding ‘Area X’ to document its mutated flora and fauna, causing us to wonder how species will adapt to climate change. Not only confronting us with how climate
New projects:
A project on the extraordinary nature of the ordinary things around us.
Future Based Scientific Imagination is a new project of the Future Based platform, hosted and curated by Sabine Winters. The philosophical quest of this project is based on the wish to understand more about the role of imagination in our understanding of the world. Furthermore, the different perspectives on the function of imagination, represents a wider perspective on questions on human knowledge: how we obtain knowledge and which beliefs we hold about the methodologies in acquiring knowledge. Special contributors are among other professor Vincent Icke, Astropreneur Nancy Vermeulen and Cybrog anthropologist Marques D Anderson. Read more.
Witchcraft made Science – how witchcraft created modern science.
Guided and curated by Lieke Wouters, we’ll be discussing how the common stereotype of the witch, the old crone wearing a black pointy hat while riding on a broomstick with a black cat in tow, stands in the way of important herstories about women healers, midwives and other non-conforming women and the impact of witch-hunts from the 16th century onwards on the development of science. What can we learn from these anti-patriarchal re-tellings and how do they influence our view on gender diversity in science? Read more.
Creating Life – A three part essay on human beings – being human
In a series of three video essays created in collaboration with Marjolein Pijnappels, we explore how life is created and sustained on our planet. Taking a closer look at human birth, mycorrhiza connectivity, chimerism and the pan-microbiome from a philosophical and personal perspective, Marjolein wants to shed light on the different perspectives on the ability to bear life, on being alive, and on what defines being a human being in this particular aspect of life. The research will run from June through December 2021, begins with a personal examination and reflection on the three topics around the theme “Creating Life”: Life Cycle, Multitudes, Networked Beings. The final result, in collaboration with a filmmaker, will be cast in three short video essays that will be presented on our website, and during a meetup. Read more.
