Ce travail s’attache à étudier les figures de la posthumanité en s’appuyant sur un corpus transmédial et transnational et à répondre à deux questions principales : Peut-on, au travers de la figure du posthumain, percer à jour les désirs et les angoisses de l'homme de ce millénaire encore naissant ? Comment l'expérience de pensée posthumaine, mise en mouvement par la fiction, questionne-t-elle la notion même d'humanité ? Dans un premier temps, il met en relief les liens existant entre la posthumanité et ce territoire homogène et récurrent dans le corpus, qu’on nommera à la suite d'Antonio Negri et Michael Hardt, l’Empire. Dans un second temps il s’intéresse à la plasticité du corps et de l’esprit posthumains, à la façon dont leurs multiples avatars se déploient à travers le temps ainsi qu’aux raisons qui sous-tendent cette extrême plasticité. Enfin, dans un dernier mouvement, il s’attelle à montrer que, loin de s’inscrire dans un imaginaire radicalement nouveau, le post-humain procède en fait du réagencement ou de la reconfiguration d’un imaginaire anthropologique déjà bien ancré dans l’inconscient collectif. / This work focus on the study of the posthuman figures. It is based on a transmedial and transnational corpus. It seeks to answer two key questions : can we expose, through the posthuman figure, the desires and the anguishes of this still rising millennium’s man ? How the posthuman thought experiment, set into motion by the fiction, challenge the very concept of humanity ? As a first step, this work emphasizes on the links that exist between posthumanity and this homogeneous and reccuring, in our fictions, territory that Antonio Negri and Micharl Hardt call Empire. Then, it’s interested in the plasticity of the posthuman bodies and minds, in the way that their numerous avatars expand through time as well as the reasons that underlie this extreme plasticity. Lastly, he tries to show that the posthuman do not fall into a dramatic new imagination, but that it proceeds, in fact, of the reordering or the reconfiguration of a anthropological imagination already well rooted in the collective unconscious.

Esta tese de doutorado analisa dois romances do escritor Norte-Americano Robert Coover como exemplos de escrita hipertextual e de hiperficção no suporte do livro de papel. A complexidade dos romances John's Wife e The Adventures of Lucky Pierre integra os elementos culturais característicos da atual fase do capitalismo e as práticas tecnologizadas que vêm forjando uma subjetividade diferente na escrita e leitura hipertextual, a subjetividade pós-humana. Os modelos da complexidade dos romances derivam do conceito de atratores estranhos da Teoria do Caos e de rizoma da Nomadologia. As transformações no grau de corporeidade dos personagens estabelecem o plano em que se discute a turbulência e a pós-humanidade. As noções de padrões dinâmicos e atratores estranhos e os conceitos do Corpo sem Órgãos e do Rizoma são interpretados para se revisar a narratologia e chegar a categorias apropriadas ao estudo dos romances. A leitura exercitada nesta tese põe em prática a proposta de leitura corpórea de Daniel Punday. As mudanças no grau de materialidade dos personagens são associadas aos estágios de ordem, turbulência e caos na estória, agindo sobre a constituição da subjetividade ao longo do processo de leitura. A inscrição dos planos de consistência que Coover realiza para se contrapor à linearidade e acomodar as feições hipertextuais nas narrativas em papel descreve a trajetória rizomática dos personagens. O presente estudo leva a concluir que a narrativa hoje se constitui antes como um regime numa relação rizomática com outros regimes na prática cultural do que como forma e gênero predominantemente literários. Também se conclui que a subjetividade pós-humana emerge alinhada a uma identidade de classe que tem nos romances hipertextuais a sua forma literária predileta. / This doctoral dissertation analyzes two novels by the American novelist Robert Coover as examples of hypertextual writing on the book bound page, as tokens of hyperfiction. The complexity displayed in the novels, John's Wife and The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, integrates the cultural elements that characterize the contemporary condition of capitalism and technologized practices that have fostered a different subjectivity evidenced in hypertextual writing and reading, the posthuman subjectivity. The models that account for the complexity of each novel are drawn from the concept of strange attractors in Chaos Theory and from the concept of rhizome in Nomadology. The transformations the characters undergo in the degree of their corporeality sets the plane on which to discuss turbulence and posthumanity. The notions of dynamic patterns and strange attractors, along with the concept of the Body without Organs and Rhizome are interpreted, leading to the revision of narratology and to analytical categories appropriate to the study of the novels. The reading exercised throughout this dissertation enacts Daniel Punday's corporeal reading. The changes in the characters' degree of materiality are associated with the stages of order, turbulence and chaos in the story, bearing on the constitution of subjectivity within and along the reading process. Coover's inscription of planes of consistency to counter linearity and accommodate hypertextual features to the paper supported narratives describes the characters' trajectory as rhizomatic. The study led to the conclusion that narrative today stands more as a regime in a rhizomatic relation with other regimes in cultural practice than as an exclusively literary form and genre. Besides this, posthuman subjectivity emerges as class identity, holding hypertextual novels as their literary form of choice.

In hierdie studie word die manifestasies en ontwikkelings van mens-masjien-verhoudinge in die Afrikaanse poësie vanaf 1990 tot 2012 ondersoek. Relevante uitgangspunte van die fenomenologie, posthumanisme en transhumanisme dien as teoretiese begronding om die gekompliseerde en gevarieerde aard van mens-masjien-verhoudinge in die Afrikaanse poësie te bestudeer. Die studie beoog om deur kwantitatiewe data-analise die manifestasie van tegnologiese terme en verwysings na tegnologiese objekte in Afrikaanse poësie vanaf 1990 tot 2012 te karteer. Hierbenewens word deeglike kwalitatiewe ondersoek gedoen na die verskillende representasies van mens-masjien-verhoudinge in geselekteerde Afrikaanse gedigte. Laastens word rolle en metaforiese betekenisse van digitale tegnologie in posthumane subjekte se belewing op drie tematiese vlakke ondersoek, naamlik liefde en seks, spiritualiteit en die dood. / In this study the different manifestations of human-machine relationships in Afrikaans poetry between 1990 and 2012 are investigated. Relevant viewpoints from the phenomenology, posthumanism and transhumanism form part of the theoretical framework in which the often complicated and varied nature of human-machine relationships are studied. It is the goal of this study to map the manifestations of technological terms and references to technological objects in Afrikaans poetry from 1990 to 2012, utilising quantitative data analysis. Furthermore, the in-depth qualitative analysis will investigate various representations of human-machine relationships in selected Afrikaans poems. The roles and metaphorical meanings of digital technology within the experiences of posthuman subjects are investigated on three thematic levels, namely love and sex, spirituality and death. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M. A. (Afrikaans)

This dissertation follows an interdisciplinary approach that weaves practice and theory in the disciplines of visual communication, semiotics, cultural studies, linguistics, and new media art. The research methodology is practice-based located within a historical and contemporary context that allows for artistic experimentation and new knowledge to be generated through reflected creative practice This research proposes a context within which society can develop a transcultural means of communication with the objective of gaining completely unambiguous forms of understanding. This research explores the possibility of an open source scaffold for pictorial language that fosters self-enhancing diversity of production models, communication paths, and interactive communities. The dissertation explores research strategies and visual practice in relationship to a proposed global use of a common system of visual semantic decoding that would allow for visual synthesis by individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. It is proposed that a shared collective knowledge of signs, symbols, and pictographs, supported by the advancement of future communication and information systems, can lead to a visual communication system that will be universally accepted. There is a historic, on-going and collective consensus on the need for a universal language in the near-future posthuman condition. In answer to this need, this dissertation contextualises and goes on to explore a realised case study of a practice-based solution for a universal pictorial communication system. The system may at times seem ambitious and abstract, however, it aims to include all cultures of the world, seeking to establish a direction that identifies and locates cultural similarities over cultural difference. This practice-based enquiry proposes a direction that should maintain coherence, logic, and veracity in order to develop a pictographic communication system that is a valid representation of the human experience in a posthuman condition.

Esta tese de doutorado analisa dois romances do escritor Norte-Americano Robert Coover como exemplos de escrita hipertextual e de hiperficção no suporte do livro de papel. A complexidade dos romances John's Wife e The Adventures of Lucky Pierre integra os elementos culturais característicos da atual fase do capitalismo e as práticas tecnologizadas que vêm forjando uma subjetividade diferente na escrita e leitura hipertextual, a subjetividade pós-humana. Os modelos da complexidade dos romances derivam do conceito de atratores estranhos da Teoria do Caos e de rizoma da Nomadologia. As transformações no grau de corporeidade dos personagens estabelecem o plano em que se discute a turbulência e a pós-humanidade. As noções de padrões dinâmicos e atratores estranhos e os conceitos do Corpo sem Órgãos e do Rizoma são interpretados para se revisar a narratologia e chegar a categorias apropriadas ao estudo dos romances. A leitura exercitada nesta tese põe em prática a proposta de leitura corpórea de Daniel Punday. As mudanças no grau de materialidade dos personagens são associadas aos estágios de ordem, turbulência e caos na estória, agindo sobre a constituição da subjetividade ao longo do processo de leitura. A inscrição dos planos de consistência que Coover realiza para se contrapor à linearidade e acomodar as feições hipertextuais nas narrativas em papel descreve a trajetória rizomática dos personagens. O presente estudo leva a concluir que a narrativa hoje se constitui antes como um regime numa relação rizomática com outros regimes na prática cultural do que como forma e gênero predominantemente literários. Também se conclui que a subjetividade pós-humana emerge alinhada a uma identidade de classe que tem nos romances hipertextuais a sua forma literária predileta. / This doctoral dissertation analyzes two novels by the American novelist Robert Coover as examples of hypertextual writing on the book bound page, as tokens of hyperfiction. The complexity displayed in the novels, John's Wife and The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, integrates the cultural elements that characterize the contemporary condition of capitalism and technologized practices that have fostered a different subjectivity evidenced in hypertextual writing and reading, the posthuman subjectivity. The models that account for the complexity of each novel are drawn from the concept of strange attractors in Chaos Theory and from the concept of rhizome in Nomadology. The transformations the characters undergo in the degree of their corporeality sets the plane on which to discuss turbulence and posthumanity. The notions of dynamic patterns and strange attractors, along with the concept of the Body without Organs and Rhizome are interpreted, leading to the revision of narratology and to analytical categories appropriate to the study of the novels. The reading exercised throughout this dissertation enacts Daniel Punday's corporeal reading. The changes in the characters' degree of materiality are associated with the stages of order, turbulence and chaos in the story, bearing on the constitution of subjectivity within and along the reading process. Coover's inscription of planes of consistency to counter linearity and accommodate hypertextual features to the paper supported narratives describes the characters' trajectory as rhizomatic. The study led to the conclusion that narrative today stands more as a regime in a rhizomatic relation with other regimes in cultural practice than as an exclusively literary form and genre. Besides this, posthuman subjectivity emerges as class identity, holding hypertextual novels as their literary form of choice.

A universal human dignity, conceived as an inherent and inalienable value or worth in all human beings, which ought to be recognised, respected and protected by others, has become one of the most prominent and widely promoted interpretations of human dignity, especially in international human rights law. Yet, it is also one of the most difficult interpretations of human dignity to justify and ground. The fundamental problem rests on how one can justify bestowing an equal high worth to all human lives, whilst also attributing to all human life a worth that is superior to all non-human animal life. To avoid the speciesist charge it seems necessary to provide further reasons, over and above species membership, for why all humans have a unique worth and dignity. However, intrinsic capacities, such as autonomy, intelligence or language use, are too demanding for many humans (including foetuses or the severely cognitively disabled) to meet the required minimum standard, whilst also being obtainable by some non-human animals, regardless of where the level is set. This thesis offers a solution to this problem by turning instead to the significance of the relational ties between individuals or groups that transcend individual capacities and abilities, and consequently does not require that all individuals in the group need meet the minimum required capacity for full moral status. Rather, it is argued that a universal human dignity could be grounded in our social nature, the interconnectedness and interdependence of human life and the morally considerable relationships that can and do arise from it, especially in regards to our shared vulnerability and dependence, and our ability to engage in caring relationships. Care represents the antithesis to the dehumanizing effects of humiliation, and other degrading and dehumanizing acts, and as a relational concept, human dignity is often best realised through our caring relationships. The way that individuals and groups treat each other has a fundamental role in determining both an individual’s sense of self-worth and well-being, as well as their perceived public value and worth. Thus, whilst species membership is not in itself morally fundamental or basic, it often shapes the nature of our social and moral relations. These relational ties between humans, it is argued, distinguish us most clearly from other non-human animals and accord human relationships a special moral significance or dignity.

Esta tese de doutorado analisa dois romances do escritor Norte-Americano Robert Coover como exemplos de escrita hipertextual e de hiperficção no suporte do livro de papel. A complexidade dos romances John's Wife e The Adventures of Lucky Pierre integra os elementos culturais característicos da atual fase do capitalismo e as práticas tecnologizadas que vêm forjando uma subjetividade diferente na escrita e leitura hipertextual, a subjetividade pós-humana. Os modelos da complexidade dos romances derivam do conceito de atratores estranhos da Teoria do Caos e de rizoma da Nomadologia. As transformações no grau de corporeidade dos personagens estabelecem o plano em que se discute a turbulência e a pós-humanidade. As noções de padrões dinâmicos e atratores estranhos e os conceitos do Corpo sem Órgãos e do Rizoma são interpretados para se revisar a narratologia e chegar a categorias apropriadas ao estudo dos romances. A leitura exercitada nesta tese põe em prática a proposta de leitura corpórea de Daniel Punday. As mudanças no grau de materialidade dos personagens são associadas aos estágios de ordem, turbulência e caos na estória, agindo sobre a constituição da subjetividade ao longo do processo de leitura. A inscrição dos planos de consistência que Coover realiza para se contrapor à linearidade e acomodar as feições hipertextuais nas narrativas em papel descreve a trajetória rizomática dos personagens. O presente estudo leva a concluir que a narrativa hoje se constitui antes como um regime numa relação rizomática com outros regimes na prática cultural do que como forma e gênero predominantemente literários. Também se conclui que a subjetividade pós-humana emerge alinhada a uma identidade de classe que tem nos romances hipertextuais a sua forma literária predileta. / This doctoral dissertation analyzes two novels by the American novelist Robert Coover as examples of hypertextual writing on the book bound page, as tokens of hyperfiction. The complexity displayed in the novels, John's Wife and The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, integrates the cultural elements that characterize the contemporary condition of capitalism and technologized practices that have fostered a different subjectivity evidenced in hypertextual writing and reading, the posthuman subjectivity. The models that account for the complexity of each novel are drawn from the concept of strange attractors in Chaos Theory and from the concept of rhizome in Nomadology. The transformations the characters undergo in the degree of their corporeality sets the plane on which to discuss turbulence and posthumanity. The notions of dynamic patterns and strange attractors, along with the concept of the Body without Organs and Rhizome are interpreted, leading to the revision of narratology and to analytical categories appropriate to the study of the novels. The reading exercised throughout this dissertation enacts Daniel Punday's corporeal reading. The changes in the characters' degree of materiality are associated with the stages of order, turbulence and chaos in the story, bearing on the constitution of subjectivity within and along the reading process. Coover's inscription of planes of consistency to counter linearity and accommodate hypertextual features to the paper supported narratives describes the characters' trajectory as rhizomatic. The study led to the conclusion that narrative today stands more as a regime in a rhizomatic relation with other regimes in cultural practice than as an exclusively literary form and genre. Besides this, posthuman subjectivity emerges as class identity, holding hypertextual novels as their literary form of choice.

This paper explores various technologies available to the modern composer and utilized in recent modern opera, providing creative approaches to producing aural, visual, and theatrical performance environments. It also explores my own use of digital technology in Transient Delete. Transient Delete is a digital miniature-opera that explores different aspects of a community of post-human cyborgs. The story follows Iméra, a newly converted cyborg as she acclimates herself to this new cybernetic existence. During this process she meets several other cybernetic entities that are there to help guide her through her metamorphosis.

In his celebrated 2007 novel El mundo, Juan José Millás tells the story of the development of Juanjo, a simulacrum of himself, and describes a series of negative developments that the protagonist faces in his childhood. While much has been written about Millás and the “testimonial realism” of his literary generation, little has been written about the psychological factors that influence his characters. In this paper I analyze Juanjo's development as understood from the gradation of guilt to shame, depression, and later suicidal thoughts. Because Juanjo is not able to find an appropriate mechanism of release for his guilt, he spirals into an ever-increasing psychological distress. Thus, his actions do not become an escape per se from the oppressive forces in Spain; but rather, they are mechanisms of delay caused by the subconscious effects of living under Franco's Spain during the 1950s. Mike Wilson-Reginato's first novel El púgil, published in 2007, mixes intertextual references to music, film, and literature to craft a space for the posthuman identity. The two protagonists of El púgil—Art and his olive-green refrigerator, Hal—combine in a new cyborg-like formation. Unlike the cyborg envisioned by Donna Haraway in “A Cyborg Manifesto,” the mechanical-biological union never takes place at the corporeal level, but their union occurs in a psychological dimension within Art's hallucination. To describe the union of Art and Hal, I use Jacques Lacan's concept of the mirror stage to explain Art's adoption of a perceived superior identity and Jean Baudrillard's study of simulacra to show how this adopted identity is an imagined simulacrum. Thus, the combined image of the two characters creates a cyborg identity that erases the distance between man and machine.

В современном обществе остро встают моральные проблемы, связанные с деятельностью искусственного интеллекта и других интеллектуальных систем. В работе исследуются проблемы, связанные с влиянием сильного искусственного интеллекта на человеческое общество: проблемы определения прав и свобод искусственных когнитивных единиц, взаимодействия человека и постчеловека, а также этические проблемы, потенциально возникающие при создании ИИ. Объектом исследования является философское течение постгуманизм. Предметом исследования является морально-этическая составляющая подраздела постгуманизма под названием эссенциокогнитивизм. Целью является изучение моральных принципов сильного искусственного интеллекта и других интеллектуальных агентов, или, если точнее, постчеловечества, преломленное сквозь призму морально-этических учений прошлого и современности. Методами исследования являются сравнение с уже существующими моральными системами, анализ актуальных морально-нравственных концепций, конструирование (дизайн) и прогнозирование хода развития постгуманистической концепции. Актуальность представленного исследования основана на росте внимания к идеям научно-технического прогресса и технологической сингулярности, актуализации этических проблем слабого искусственного интеллекта, возникновении новых научных открытий, имеющих неоднозначное значение для человечества. В результате исследования установлено, что постчеловечество и ИИ способны положительно повлиять на жизнь человечества, поэтому их возникновение представляется отличной возможностью решить глобальные проблемы, стоящие перед человечеством уже сейчас. / In modern society, the moral problems associated with the activities of artificial intelligence and other intellectual systems are acute. The paper examines the problems associated with the influence of strong artificial intelligence on human society: the problem of determining the rights and freedoms of artificial cognitive units, the interaction between man and postman, as well as ethical problems that potentially arise when creating AI. The object of the research is the philosophical course of posthumanism. The subject of the research is the moral and ethical component of posthumanism subsection called essentiocognitivism. The goal is to study the moral principles of strong artificial intelligence and other intellectual agents, or, more precisely, post-humanity, refracted through the prism of the moral and ethical teachings of the past and present. The research methods are comparison with already existing moral systems, analysis of current moral and ethical concepts, design and forecasting the course of development of the post humanistic concept. The relevance of the presented research is based on the growth of attention to the ideas of scientific and technological progress and technological singularity, the updating of the ethical problems of weak artificial intelligence, the emergence of new scientific discoveries that have ambiguous significance for humanity. As the result of the research it was established that post-humanity and the AI have positively effect on the life of mankind, therefore, their appearance is an excellent opportunity to solve global problems facing humanity now.