Abstract

Humans are driving the planet toward catastrophe, and yet humans are the only species capable of taking positive actions on a global scale to prevent collapse. For N. Katherine Hayles, human hubris and the anthropocentrism that underlies it is one of the main drivers of our current planetary crises. So, if we are to take action to save the planet, we urgently need to re-think basic assumptions about agency, decision-making, control, and our relations to nonhuman and artificial cognizers. In Bacteria to AI, Hayles develops an integrated cognitive framework (ICF) that includes humans, nonhuman lifeforms, and some computational media, including artificial intelligence. Bacteria to AI analyzes how the first-order emergences of physical phenomena, multicellularity, and technics are now interacting together to create second-order emergences that greatly accelerate technical developments. The book explores these entanglements through case studies ranging from gene editing to autopoiesis and Gaia theory, bacteria and xenobots to artificial intelligence. Spanning evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, and contemporary literature, Bacteria to AI recognizes the risks of contemporary technologies but insists a positive way forward, with ICF at its core, is possible for us and for the more than human world.