Cybercultures

In this module you will look at the possible long-term effects of information and communications technology (ICT) on human society.

You will do this by critically exploring the beliefs and claims of different ‘cybercultures’ – social and cultural movements, each of which promotes a particular vision of the future premised on the radically transformative potential of ICT.

You will explore a range of ‘cultural imaginaries’as manifested in popular culture, civil society, professional groups and scholarly writing. In these imaginaries, the development and spread of digital and networked technologies are seen as having revolutionary implications for social identities, political life and economic relations – or even for the essence or viability of human beings themselves.

These imaginaries involve narratives that range from the utopian to the apocalyptic – from cybercommunist and cyberfeminist visions of rejuvenated progressive politics to a postpolitical world run by algorithmic capitalism, or from transhumanist visions of digital immortality to dire warnings of machine super-intelligence replacing humanity.

Through lectures, seminar discussions, film screenings and debates, and drawing on sociology, media and cultural studies, science studies, philosophy and science fiction, you will learn about some of the most high-stakes questions about the future of society.