Electric animals.

The literature on everyday life has only imperfectly taken to itself the influence of modern information and communications technology, generally through the work of authors like Benjamin and the lettristes like de Certeau and Virilio. Part of the reason for this relative absence seems to be a conce...

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Publicado en:Cultural Studies Vol. 18; no. 2/3; pp. 461 - 483
Autor principal: Thrift, Nigel
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Mar/May2004
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        au: Thrift, Nigel
        affil: University of Bristol, UK
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        Business communication
        Business etiquette
        Business enterprises
        Communication & technology
        Life sciences
        Bioethics
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          Business communication
          Business etiquette
          Business enterprises
          Communication & technology
          Life sciences
          Bioethics
      keyword:
        animality
        biological metaphors
        companion animals
        everyday life
        robotics
        software
      ab: The literature on everyday life has only imperfectly taken to itself the influence of modern information and communications technology, generally through the work of authors like Benjamin and the lettristes like de Certeau and Virilio. Part of the reason for this relative absence seems to be a concern that these technologies are, in some way, inauthentic. But such a reaction is no longer adequate. As software plasters the everyday world with a new and active surface, so the character of the everyday world is being changed. This change is based on theoretical models of the world that are written into software and which have as one of their key roots particular notions of biology. How can one understand this new kind of everyday life in which theoretical models of biology come back to haunt the surfaces that define us as they are incorporated in all manner of increasingly 'lively' devices? Obviously, a series of characterizations could be made but this paper proposes that one of the best of these may turn out to be that of the companion animal. Everyday life is chock full of these animals yet they too are hardly ever remarked upon in the literature: their strange familiarity is so obvious that they are deemed to be unworthy of notice. However, as software makes the world increasingly lively, perhaps we should start to think of its agency, especially as it is incarnated in various increasingly mobile objects, as calling forth similar kinds of relationship of dominance and affection - and a pressing ethical task.
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