How do we understand ourselves as human beings? Historically, we have considered where we are in time and place and in relation to others. Throughout history, humans have wondered about their origins and about their futures. Charles Darwin gave some a foundation of understanding where human beings came from and how we evolved. The greater question now is how we will change; will human beings continue to evolve and adapt in response to the changes in the natural world? Or will the changes be more deliberate? In what ways will human beings be responsible for the ways we change in the future? Considering the speed with which technology advances, how might we be plunging headlong into a future we might have only imagined? Will future humans evolve naturally or will we change deliberately being combined with technology and becoming “cyborgs”? Will the nature that shapes our evolution be the one we created through climate change? Will our present world be changed in order to shape a future we are more comfortable anticipating? In short, human beings have consistently been preoccupied with the future; considering some of the visions of the future presented in novels and movies, what has gone by the wayside and what has shown prescience? How might we use these predictions of the future as bellwether so we might change course and shape a future that’s more to our liking?
These are some of the questions we would like to address in a proposed book. This book proposes to examine literature, film, television, history and popular culture. Abstracts due by June 1st, 2016.
Louisa MacKay Demerjian, lmdemerjian@gmail.com