On humanity, videogames, and resisting operationalized logic.

BY TIMOTHY WELSHLoyola University, New Orleans In October 2018, just prior to the November midterm elections, Twitter banned close to 1,500 accounts that all featured the same gray, expressionless cartoon avatar. “NPC,” a version of the Wojack or Feels Guy reaction image, is a meme generated by the right-wing internet as a representation of liberals. … More On humanity, videogames, and resisting operationalized logic.

Fashioning Feminism: On Bodies of Information.

BY ELIZABETH LOSHWilliam & Mary What does a bulletproof dress prototype have to do with the digital humanities? A lot actually, according to artist micha cárdenas. Such a garment, which was crafted from Kevlar airbags scavenged from a junkyard, could be capable of stopping a 9mm bullet. It’s one of the objects featured in the … More Fashioning Feminism: On Bodies of Information.

Migration and global justice: North American economic migrants in Latin America

BY MATTHEW HAYESSt. Thomas University, New Brunswick What happens when North American retirement ideals of adventure and personal growth collide with the material realities of a Latin American city, going through a process of rapid urban growth spurred by rural-to-urban migration? This is a question I tried to answer in Gringolandia: Lifestyle Migration under Late … More Migration and global justice: North American economic migrants in Latin America

Sonic Science Fiction: Programming the Thought Synthesizer

BY TRACE REDDELLUniversity of Denver One of the challenges I faced while researching and writing The Sound of Things to Come: An Audible History of the Science Fiction Film concerned the terminology of the “new” and the role of “futurity.” Early drafts of the project emphasized thematic clusters that brought together films from very different … More Sonic Science Fiction: Programming the Thought Synthesizer

#DeleteFacebook: Users always have the option of disconnecting—right?

BY TERO KARPPIAssistant professor, University of Toronto Want to #DeleteFacebook? You can try.Deleting Facebook is easier said than done. These are examples of headlines written after the news about Cambridge Analytica harvesting the data of 50 million Facebook profiles. These suggestions do not speak of getting rid of Facebook, Inc. – the company and its … More #DeleteFacebook: Users always have the option of disconnecting—right?

Heidegger’s thinking today is, perhaps, the possibility of the world

MICHAEL MARDERUniversity of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain In the 1957 lectures he delivered in Freiburg under the title “Basic Principles of Thinking,” Martin Heidegger speculated that “dialectics today is, perhaps … the actuality of the world [Weltwirklichkeit]” (GA 79: 88). For all its hyperbolic thrust, one should not take his statement lightly, dismissing … More Heidegger’s thinking today is, perhaps, the possibility of the world

You cannot have a just farm bill and eat it too.

JOSHUA SBICCAAssistant professor of sociology at Colorado State University Congress is in the midst of reconciling the House and Senate versions of the 2018 Farm Bill. Time is short. On September 30, the current law expires. No matter what transpires it will still not be enough to fully regulate the food system. The public debate … More You cannot have a just farm bill and eat it too.

2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part II of II)

David ParisiAssociate Professor of Emerging Media, College of Charleston——-Preceded by Part I.——- Historicizing Haptic Hype Also in 2018, amidst the billowing excitement over the latest wave of haptic devices and the growing anticipation for Ready Player One, I published Archaeologies of Touch: Interfacing with Haptics from Electricity to Computing, where I explicitly attempt to provide … More 2018: The Year of Haptics? (Part II of II)