technological singularity - Amerikanistik

Risking a Look Through the Wall of Blindness:
The Dystopian Nanovision of Templesmith’s Singularity 7 (2004)
Laura Zimmermann (Universität Bayreuth)
Abstract
In the 21st century - the era of converging
technologies - the future of humanity has become a
narrative of both, great promises and great threats. The
narrative of technological singularity (Vinge, 1993)
seems to pose the greatest possible threat to humanity,
as it promises to transform human reality entirely and
rings in the regime of machines, which results in the
posthuman era (Hayles, 1999). This catastrophic point
in the future is supposedly inevitable, but at the same
time impossible to imagine.
At this juncture, nanovision (Milburn, 2008) enters
the scene to give structure to this seeming contradiction.
Nanovision is “a way of seeing” through the wall of
blindness that technological singularity constitutes; a way
of seeing that is characterized by the inherently
paradoxical implications of nanotechnology. In this
poster, I claim that because nanovision is the act of
anticipating the nanotechnological future of humanity, a
(dystopian) nanovision is inherently a risk performance.
Accordingly, I further argue that the theory of nanovision
provides productive categories for analyzing risk (Beck,
2006) in narrative texts, such as graphic narratives.
A paradigmatic reading of the graphic narrative
Singularity 7 (2004) by Ben Templesmith illustrates
how this particular text generates a dystopian
nanovision, and thus mediates risk by eroding the
notions of technological singularity and the
posthuman.
Concepts & Method
Analysis
Conclusion
Technological Singularity
Posthumanism
Nanovision in general is inherently dual in nature
because it "operates through a productive dynamic of
blindness and insight" (Milburn 13). This is also the case in
Singularity 7: vision plays a crucial role in the erosion of
the analyzed concepts - be it as an “act of seeing” that
determines agency, or as a “future vision” that can be
found in the implications of nanotechnology.
Fig. 2: The ‘nanite vision’ of the Singularity (Templesmith 60)
!
Fig. 1: ‘The Great Unravelling’ (Templesmith 10)
In Singularity 7, the reality-altering event that refers to
the technological singularity, as Vernor Vinge defined it, is
described as ‘The Great Unravelling’ (Fig 1). It has already
happened in the narrative present, but is recalled in the
retrospective narrative at the beginning of the text.
Apart from this event, the comic erodes the notion of
technological singularity by using the term ambiguously:
the title of the comic is a paradox and the character
named 'Singularity' contradicts the notion of a point in time.
Furthermore, the comic depicts another event that could be
characterized as a technological singularity (Fig. 4).
!
Fig. 3: Human ‘vision’ is characterized by a lack of information (Templesmith 39)
In Singularity 7, the distinction between posthuman
and human characters is essentially determined by their
ability or inability to see. The Singularity, can literally
alter whatever he sees, and he sees everything that the
nanites see (Fig. 2). In contrast, humans are limited by
what they see through their own eyes, which results in a
lack of information and consequently, a lack of agency
(Fig. 3).
• Nanovision by Colin Milburn (2008)
• World Risk Society by Ulrich Beck (2006)
• Technological Singularity by Vernor Vinge (1993)
• The Posthuman by N. Katherine Hayles (1999)
Method
Fig. 4: A second technological singularity? (Templesmith 106-07, 109)
However, in the end, humans are able to regain their
agency by developing their own nanoparticles. It is also
the human nanotechnology that triggers a second
singularity, namely the complete disassembly of
everything human, posthuman and even the aliens. The
only “thing” left after this cataclysm looks like a human
baby without any apparent marks of a posthuman.
However, the baby must be post-posthuman since it
survived the detonation of an atomic bomb as well as
the (second) singularity (Fig. 4).
Interdisciplinary Conference “Risk – Effects and Affect: Technology and Narrative in the 21st Century“ Ÿ YOUNG SCHOLAR FORUM Ÿ Nov. 23, 2012
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Thus the notion of risk as conceptualized by Beck is an
important complement to Milburn’s concept of nanovision.
While risk addresses the uncertainty that shapes the
present through an ultimately unpredictable anticipated
catastrophe, nanovision operates on the figure of sight,
relating an unforeseeable future to the present moment
throught the fantastic possibilities of a particular
technology.
References
Beck, Ulrich. “Living in the World Risk Society.” Economy and Society 35.3 (August
2006): 329-45. Web.
Beck, Ulrich. World at Risk. Polity, Cambridge, UK: 2009. Print.
Concepts
• Transmedial Narratology by Marie-Laure Ryan
The paradigmatic analysis of the comic illustrates how
the text as a vision of the nanotechnological future
performs a “techno-deconstruction” of the human, which
means that it deconstructs both matter - literally - and
structures of thought - metaphorically - (Milburn 16). Its
constant erosion of the notions of technological singularity
and posthumanism contribute to the mediation of risk.
Thus, a dystopian nanovision, such as in Singularity 7,
even if it is clearly fantastic, makes risk ‘real’ because it
dramatizes the fears associated with the advancement of
nanotechnology.
Drexler, K. Eric. Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology. New York, NY:
Anchor, 1990. Print.
Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics,
Literature, and Informatics. Chicago, IL: U of Chicago P, 1999. Print.
Hayles, N. Katherine, ed. Nanoculture: Implications of the New Technoscience. Bristol,
UK: Intellect, 2004. Print.
Landon, Brooks. “Less is More: Much Less is Much More: The Insistent Allure of
Nanotechnology Narratives in Science Fiction Literature.” N. Katherine Hayles 2004.
131-46.
Milburn, Colin. “Nanotechnology in the Age of Posthuman Engineering: Science Fiction
as Science.” N. Katherine Hayles 2004. 109-29.
Milburn, Colin. Nanovision: Engineering the Future. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2008. Print.
Ryan, Marie-Laure, ed. Narrative Across Media: The Languages of Storytelling. Lincoln,
NE: U of Nebraska P, 2004. Print.
Templesmith, Ben. Singularity 7. San Diego, CA: IDW, 2005. Print.
Vinge, Vernor. “Technological Singularity.” Whole Earth Review 81 (Winter 1993): 88-95.
Print.