Human Futures: Art in an Age of Uncertainty

In recent years, the long-term future of humanity has become of particular concern to various governance bodies and scholarly institutions. This is due to the many biological transgressions that have begun to occur through emerging technologies, such as genetic modification, cloning, stem cell research and much more. These transgressions call into question the foundations of social order, thus creating a complex, multifaceted imperative for humanity as a whole to foresee. This innovative book, stimulated by material from FACT's Human Futures programme and informed by inquiries into the future of humanity, combines scholarly essays, images from leading artists and designers, interviews, design products, artistic artefacts, and creative writing. Together, these works present contributions from key thinkers, authors and artists, whose work actively interrogates the expectations and actualities of human futures as they emerge within the social sphere. Human Futures portrays how the visual and textual culture of technological innovation is made and remade through bioculturally diverse forms of consumption. Issues addressed in the book include; the convergence of the NBIC (nano-, bio-, info-, cogno-) sciences; the ethics and aesthetics of human enhancement; the future of biological migration and transgressions; the emergence of systems and synthetic biology; the prospect of emotional and networked intelligence and ecosystem responsibility. While debates about these themes are often visible in discrete areas of scientific inquiry or artistic endeavour, this book brings together these disparate studies to explore moments of their interaction. The result is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the clash of art, technology and science and its impact on humanity today and tomorrow.