The Psychoanalysis of Cyborgs
Talk
Alfie Bown
ICA, London
2018
We are fast becoming—or have already become—a generation of cyborgs. Our very desires, impulses and emotions are coded and constructed by complex sets of algorithms, AIs and big data sets to the point where even our ‘deepest’ feelings are inseparable from the logic of machines. This talk approaches the transformations in subjectivity heralded by new technology via a discussion of love, by asking: are love and desire—essential aspects of social life—being transformed by technology? If so, what politics are these changes to our fundamental being serving? Academic Alfie Bown explores whether a revitalised psychoanalytic dis- course could help navigate the technological future.
