Beyond Identities: Human Becomings in Weirding Worlds
Author | : Jim Dator |
Publisher | : Springer Nature |
Total Pages | : 201 |
Release | : 2022-08-31 |
ISBN-10 | : 9783031117329 |
ISBN-13 | : 3031117328 |
Rating | : 4/5 (29 Downloads) |
Download or read book Beyond Identities: Human Becomings in Weirding Worlds written by Jim Dator and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-08-31 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an argument for moving beyond culturally/historically/ethnically/biologically-grounded identity as the necessary foundation of an authentic self. It highlights examples of people who are attempting to inhabit identities they feel are more appropriate to themselves, by deploring the damage done via claims about authentic identity. The sole theme of this book is “becoming beyond identity”. We are not fixed human beings but rather perpetually-dynamic human becomings. As intelligence is enabled or recognized beyond the merely human, we should welcome our continuing evolution from homosapiens, sapiens, into many varieties of intelligences on Earth and the cosmos. This book builds from tiny ripples into a tsunami of examples from conventional identity studies, to Confucian human becomings, to apotemnophilia, to DIY biohacking, to cyborgs, to artilects, to hiveminds, to intelligence in animals, plants and fungi from the Holocene through the beginnings of the precarious, climate change-driven Anthropocene Epoch, with hints far beyond and throughout the cosmos. From a lifetime of work in future studies, anticipation science and space studies, the author balances frank tales of his own experiences and beliefs concerning his uncertain and fluid identities with those of others who tell their stories. In addition to material from academic and popular sources, a few poems further illuminate the scene.