COSMIC SLOP: Possibilities of Alien Futures (From the Past)

The elite imaginaries of our world hold a monopoly over the future, drawing power from the particular ‘utopias’ they promote as a kind of currency to induce a psychosomatic investment in a specific future of society. This displaces the material and temporal content of actually lived exploitation today. In considering the ways in which power now operates predictively as much as retrospectively, we explore the conditions for shaping an asymmetrical politics of transformation beyond the hyperbolic tropes of our current future. To this end, we argue that alien-theory can help to conjure new tomorrows through a focus on the creative power of non-being, disconnection, exploitation and alienation. In collecting together critical threads running through ‘science fiction capital’, cyborg theory, Afrofuturism and Xenofeminism, we synthesize a series of ‘alien-on-earth’ approaches to this futures-crisis in the context of a neoliberal present where our relationship with the experience of alienation has been fundamentally changed, altered and reformed. In speaking to the ways in which we can begin to decolonise this future-monopoly, we explore the concept of chronopolitics as a collective effort for unearthing different histories, mapping alternative spatio-temporalities and reshaping our present conditions in the now of time.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Lina Nasr El Hag Ali

A.T. Kingsmith

Conference

Publication date: May 2018

Publication date (Print): May 2018

Pages: 1-8

Affiliations

[1 ] York University, Department of Politics

Ross Building, Room S672

4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON

M3J 1P3, Canada

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVAC18.26

SO-VID: 0014947b-2197-4a9a-8060-c6978d6a5f5c

Copyright statement: © Ali et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. Proceedings of EVA Copenhagen 2018, Denmark

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Politics of the Machines - Art and After

Conference acronym: EVA Copenhagen

Conference number: 7

Conference location: Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Conference date: 15 - 17 May 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Digital arts and culture

Product

Product Information: 1477-9358BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVAC18.26

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

References

D Albanese 1996 New Science, New World Duke University Press Durham, NC
R BarbrookA Cameron 1995 The Californian Ideology Mute Magazine http://www.metamute.org /editorial/articles/californian-ideology 29 May 2018
R BarbrookA Cameron 2015 The Internet Revolution: From Dot-com Capitalism to Cybernetic Communism G LovinkM Rasch Network Notebooks Institute of Network Cultures Amsterdam
W Benjamin 1936 Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction W Benjamin Illuminations Random House London
L Blackman 2017 “Loving the alien”: a post– post-human manifesto Subjectivity 10 1 13 25
D Bollier 2009 The Stirrings of a ‘Degrowth Movement’ On the Commons http://www.onthecommons.org/stirrings-degrowthmovement#sthash.5jIhXYzr.4wA2iRs0.dpbs 31 May 2018
M Bookchin 2005 The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy AK Press Oakland
W Brown 2015 Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution Zone Books New York
K Eshun 1998 More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction Quartet Books London
K Eshun 2003 Further Considerations on Afrofuturism CR: The New Centennial Review 3 2 287 302
B Ferrara 2012 “My measurement of race is rate of vibration”: Afrofuturism and the ‘molecularization’ of race Dark Matter 9 2
M Fernandez 2001 Whatever Happened to the Cyborg Manifesto? Mute Magazine http://www. metamute.org/editorial/articles/whatever-happened-to-cyborg-manifesto 27 April 2018
M Fisher 2009 Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Zero Books London
W Gibson 1984 Neuromancer Ace Books New York
P Gilroy 2013 Between Camps: Nations, Cultures and the Allure of Race Taylor & Francis: New York
S Goodman 2012 Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear The MIT Press Cambridge, MA
D Haraway 1991 The Cyborg Manifesto D Haraway Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature Routledge New York
D Haraway 2003 The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness Prickly Paradigm Press Chicago
H Hester 2018 Xenofeminism Wiley London
T Hoffman 2016 No Exit, Postmodern Style CTheory: Theory, Technology, Culture 38 3
F Jameson 2005 Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions Verso Books New York
S Kern 2003 The Culture of Time and Space, 1880-1918 Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA
S Kirss 2017 A Repellent Musk Current Affairs https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/07/a-repellent-musk 30 May 2018
R Latham 2016 The Politics of Evasion: A Post-Globalization Dialogue Along the Edge of the State Routledge New York
Laboria Cuboniks 2015 Xenofeminism: A Politics for Alienation http://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2015/06/xenofeminism.pdf 25 May 2018
S Latouche 2010 Farewell to Growth Polity Press Cambridge, UK
K Liu 2016 Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation Macmillan Basingstoke, UK
K Marx 1939 Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy Penguin Books New York
JS Mbiti 1990 African Religions & Philosophy Heinemann Publishers Portsmouth, NH
R Phillips 2016 Future K FritschC O'ConnorA.K Thompson Keywords for Radicals: The Contested Vocabulary of Late-Capitalist Struggle AK Press Oakland, CA
R Sassower 2015 Compromising the Ideals of Science Macmillan Basingstoke, UK
S Shaviro 2010 Post Cinematic Affect Zero Books London
R Tally 2013 Utopia in the Age of Globalization: Space, Representation, and the World-System Macmillan Basingstoke, UK
The Invisible Committee 2015 To Our Friends The MIT Press Cambridge, MA
A Toffler 1971 Future Shock Bantam Books New York
T van Veen 2015 The Armageddon Effect: Afrofuturism and the Chronopolitics of Alien Nation R AndersonC.E Jones Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness Lexington Books New York
S Vint 2016 Introduction to The Futures Industry Paradoxa 27 1
P Virilio 1977 Speed and Politics: An Essay on Dromology The MIT Press Cambridge, MA
S Žižek 2002 Welcome to the Desert of the Real!: Five Essays on September 11 and Related Dates Verso Books New York

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] D Albanese 1996 New Science, New World Duke University Press Durham, NC

[2] R BarbrookA Cameron 1995 The Californian Ideology Mute Magazine http://www.metamute.org /editorial/articles/californian-ideology 29 May 2018

[3] R BarbrookA Cameron 2015 The Internet Revolution: From Dot-com Capitalism to Cybernetic Communism G LovinkM Rasch Network Notebooks Institute of Network Cultures Amsterdam

[4] W Benjamin 1936 Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction W Benjamin Illuminations Random House London

[5] L Blackman 2017 “Loving the alien”: a post– post-human manifesto Subjectivity 10 1 13 25

[6] D Bollier 2009 The Stirrings of a ‘Degrowth Movement’ On the Commons http://www.onthecommons.org/stirrings-degrowthmovement#sthash.5jIhXYzr.4wA2iRs0.dpbs 31 May 2018

[7] M Bookchin 2005 The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy AK Press Oakland

[8] W Brown 2015 Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution Zone Books New York

[9] K Eshun 1998 More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction Quartet Books London

[10] K Eshun 2003 Further Considerations on Afrofuturism CR: The New Centennial Review 3 2 287 302

[11] B Ferrara 2012 “My measurement of race is rate of vibration”: Afrofuturism and the ‘molecularization’ of race Dark Matter 9 2

[12] M Fernandez 2001 Whatever Happened to the Cyborg Manifesto? Mute Magazine http://www. metamute.org/editorial/articles/whatever-happened-to-cyborg-manifesto 27 April 2018

[13] M Fisher 2009 Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Zero Books London

[14] W Gibson 1984 Neuromancer Ace Books New York

[15] P Gilroy 2013 Between Camps: Nations, Cultures and the Allure of Race Taylor & Francis: New York

[16] S Goodman 2012 Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear The MIT Press Cambridge, MA

[17] D Haraway 1991 The Cyborg Manifesto D Haraway Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature Routledge New York

[18] D Haraway 2003 The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness Prickly Paradigm Press Chicago

[19] H Hester 2018 Xenofeminism Wiley London

[20] T Hoffman 2016 No Exit, Postmodern Style CTheory: Theory, Technology, Culture 38 3

[21] F Jameson 2005 Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions Verso Books New York

[22] S Kern 2003 The Culture of Time and Space, 1880-1918 Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA

[23] S Kirss 2017 A Repellent Musk Current Affairs https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/07/a-repellent-musk 30 May 2018

[24] R Latham 2016 The Politics of Evasion: A Post-Globalization Dialogue Along the Edge of the State Routledge New York

[25] Laboria Cuboniks 2015 Xenofeminism: A Politics for Alienation http://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2015/06/xenofeminism.pdf 25 May 2018

[26] S Latouche 2010 Farewell to Growth Polity Press Cambridge, UK

[27] K Liu 2016 Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation Macmillan Basingstoke, UK

[28] K Marx 1939 Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy Penguin Books New York

[29] JS Mbiti 1990 African Religions & Philosophy Heinemann Publishers Portsmouth, NH

[30] R Phillips 2016 Future K FritschC O'ConnorA.K Thompson Keywords for Radicals: The Contested Vocabulary of Late-Capitalist Struggle AK Press Oakland, CA

[31] R Sassower 2015 Compromising the Ideals of Science Macmillan Basingstoke, UK

[32] S Shaviro 2010 Post Cinematic Affect Zero Books London

[33] R Tally 2013 Utopia in the Age of Globalization: Space, Representation, and the World-System Macmillan Basingstoke, UK

[34] The Invisible Committee 2015 To Our Friends The MIT Press Cambridge, MA

[35] A Toffler 1971 Future Shock Bantam Books New York

[36] T van Veen 2015 The Armageddon Effect: Afrofuturism and the Chronopolitics of Alien Nation R AndersonC.E Jones Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness Lexington Books New York

[37] S Vint 2016 Introduction to The Futures Industry Paradoxa 27 1

[38] P Virilio 1977 Speed and Politics: An Essay on Dromology The MIT Press Cambridge, MA

[39] S Žižek 2002 Welcome to the Desert of the Real!: Five Essays on September 11 and Related Dates Verso Books New York