PART I

Section 1: Passage Explanation

Explain the significance of this passage in 3 to 5 sentences.

The Posthuman Post-Humanity

            Professor Seaman’s article Becoming More (than) Human: Affective Posthumanisms, Past and Future successfully portrays the posthuman in contrast to modern humanity, providing myriad examples and explanations. The article proves to be intriguing and informative but fails to address the outcome of the posthuman outside of being associated with modern humanity. More specifically, it does not address the possibility, and thus the aspects of the situation, of complete dominance of the posthuman in a world with no modern humans. The conclusion of the article revolves around each of the examples of different posthuman concepts striving to embody human characteristics but in each of those examples, the posthuman figures live in accordance with modern humans. Thus, it tends to be inevitable for them not to compare themselves to their more raw form. If they did not live side by side with their predecessors, they would not try to “deliberately retain…the weaknesses and vulnerabilities” of humans and would instead thrive more smoothly, never trying to be more emotional or human-like (Seaman 270).

            Therefore, if current humanity goes completely extinct, the posthuman will continue taking steps forward and never look back. Rather than an “all too affected and affective self,” it will continue evolving, both physically and “mentally” in order to overcome any obstacles and achieve perfectness (Seaman 270). Through other posthuman examples and analyses, a slightly different generalized concept of the posthuman can be portrayed disregarding any association with modern humanity, but simply overcoming it and constantly moving forward.

In Chapter 5, Graham references Kaku’s envision of “every individual would in theory be able to possess a software program containing their own personal genome sequence, perhaps on CD-ROM” (Graham 118). This predicted use of a CD is one of many instances when current reality has already surpassed predictions from only the past decade. For example, in Minority Report the clear discs used to view the precogs’ visions of crimes or in Elysium having to use a cord to connect to Max’s stored information. In modern day, this could all be accessed wirelessly using the cloud, Bluetooth, etc. What do these faults say about posthuman predictions, if even the minor details are already far surpassing predicted advancements in technology?

While their advanced technology and life on another planet deems Elysium as a posthuman film, the characters’ reckless competition between one another suggests immature, rather than advanced, minds. Thus, disregarding the technology, what aspects, if any, of Delacourt’s, Agent Kruger’s, Spider’s, Max’s, Frey’s, and Matilda’s personalities suggest that they truly encompass posthuman characteristics?

In merely the introduction of Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood’s unique second person writing style shines through, with particular diction like “wish-wash, wish-wash.” How does this tone help portray the story behind Snowman’s posthuman concept and all of the complications that come with it?

In Battlestar Galactica, the audience knows certain information before the characters do, like that cylons can look completely human. In Moon, the audience remains completely unaware of any information that Sam does not know, and only learns it once he does. How does this change in perspective facilitate connecting the dots of how the posthuman functions and what will happen?