“This Is No Simulation!”: Hypermimesis from<i>Being John Malkovich</i>to<i>Her</i>

Lawtoo, Nidesh

doi:10.1080/10509208.2019.1631692

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…They do so via mimetic principles that account for the ambivalences generated by the unconscious process of posthuman transformations that tend to be double. On the one hand, a long tradition in mimetic theory that goes, once again, back to Plato stresses that mimetic processes tend to generate irrational, noncognitive and potentially violent and destructive power, or pathos, that blocks thinking, casts a spell on rational faculties, and is generative of contagious and highly mimetic pathologies, as the proliferation of (new) fascist movements and escalation of wars amplified via new media and conspiracy theories that go viral in the digital age clearly indicates (Lawtoo, 2019b). On the other hand, and without contradiction, these unconscious processes, are also central to a distributive cognition that operates on a continuous yet differentiated spectrum of awareness, opening up the posthuman subject to feedback loops that entangle the nonconscious with animal, technological, and environmental assemblages that are not deprived of cognitive power (or logos) to account for mimetic pathos, or "techno-patho-logies" (Lawtoo, 2021, 528).…”

Section: The Mimetic Unconscious: a Mirroring Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Nietzschean foundations of homo mimeticus are outlined inLawtoo, 2013, 1-83, 281-305; first steps in the articulation of posthuman mimesis in sf films from The Matrix to Avatar, Her to Black Mirror, can be found inLawtoo 2015aLawtoo , 2015bLawtoo , 2020Lawtoo , 2021 For further transdisciplinary contributions to the mimetic turn in posthuman studies see the volume, The Mimetic Posthuman, forthcoming.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Posthuman Mimesis I: Concepts for the Mimetic Turn

Lawtoo

2022

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A mimetic turn is emerging in posthuman studies. Taking as a starting point a recent re-turn to an immanent, embodied, and relational conception of mimesis constitutive of the ERC-funded project, Homo Mimeticus, this paper proposes three related conceptual foundations to further a “mimetic turn” already at play in sf simulations and now operative in embodied imitations as well. Building on pioneering work on the centrality of an “embodied” and “cognitive nonconscious” (Hayles 1999, 2017) on the one hand, and a “relational” conception of “posthuman subjectivity” (Braidotti 2019) on the other, I argue that mimesis, understood as an unconscious tendency to mimic others (be they human or nonhuman) provides a decisive and still missing link to account for the capacity of (post)humans to become other in the first place. The concepts of “mimetic pathos,” the “mimetic unconscious,” and “hypermimesis” provide three related conceptual steps toward a mimetic turn in posthuman studies, which as this special issue shows, is already underway.

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Section: The Mimetic Unconscious: a Mirroring Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Posthuman Mimesis I: Concepts for the Mimetic Turn

Lawtoo

2022

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“…To examine the embodied aesthetics that serve the semiotic construal of space, the study conducts a 'spatial discourse analysis' (Ravelli, 2019;Ravelli and McMurtrie, 2015) to gain situated knowledge on the complexities and potentialities of dystopian space. More specifically, it draws on Lefebvre's (2004) rhythmanalysis procedural as integral to discourse and semiosis (Wetherell, 2015) in conjunction with Lawtoo's (2015Lawtoo's ( , 2020 hypermimesis to unpack tangible spatial resources. Arguably, posthuman identities, linked to body modifications and converging technologies, oscillate between utopian and dystopian spaces, hyper-real simulations and real forms of embodied imitation.…”

Section: Postcyberpunk Dystopian Cityscapementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The identification of rhythmic patterns (dissonance, alternance or resonance) is likely to open up new venues to examine the impact of peculiar time-space configurations on posthuman emotion AI representation in fictional spaces dominated by surveillant capitalism. Closely tied to polyrhythmia is the notion of hypermimesis (Lawtoo, 2015(Lawtoo, , 2020. Just like rhythmanalysis treats the body as the medium through which people configure the rhythms of the lived spaces (Lefebvre, 2004), the esthetic notion of 'hypermimesis' takes on fresh valences in relation to issues of simulation, virtuality, hegemony and appropriation 5 .…”

Section: Postcyberpunk Dystopian Cityscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Postcyberpunk dystopian cityscape and emotion artificial intelligence: A spatio-cognitive analysis of posthuman representation in Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Elyamany

2022

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

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Within visual culture, postcyberpunk films are best approached as places of Otherness whereby human identity and agency are downplayed and posthumans are magnified in highly technopolic societies marked with scientific determinism. Postcyberpunk treats the posthuman enclave as a heterotopic site, oscillating between utopian and dystopian spaces, potentially and optimistically, creating a space for humanity to be reassessed and renegotiated. Against this backdrop, the current research endeavor proposes a Spatio-Cognitive Model of Posthuman Representation focusing attention on heterotopic ‘spaces’ and ‘bodies’ in hyperconnected environments. While the model owes a substantial debt to Foucault’s writings on heterotopia and the utopian body, in tilting the focus of enquiry, this paper is informed by the tenets of polyrhythmia, hypermimesis, spatial repertoires, semiotic assemblages and cognitive embodiment as insightful interventions. Blade Runner 2049 is taken as a fertile case study grounded in paradoxes and ambiguities around the contradiction between humans and replicants, artificial intelligence and super-large enterprises. The hybridity pertinent to the postcyberpunk film genre and the inner and outer topographies of posthuman representation proved to be insightful investigative vantage points of multimodal inquiry for the socio-political and technocratic implications they underlie. With technology seamlessly integrated into social spaces and posthuman bodies, Blade Runner 2049 is arguably structured as an emotional journey composed of multiple heterotopias (spatial layers, ruptures and bifurcations expressed through socio-political capitalist projections). The article adamantly argues for new philosophical perspectives and praxis in redefinition of the social relationship between human and posthuman.

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“… See Lawtoo, 2015, 2020 186 Posthuman Mimesis II-Connections: A Dialogue between Nidesh Lawtoo and Katherine Hayles…”

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confidence: 99%

Posthuman Mimesis II - Connections: A Dialogue between Nidesh Lawtoo and Katherine Hayles

Hayles

Lawtoo

2022

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In this dialogue Katherine Hayles and Nidesh Lawtoo join forces to cast light on the central role of embodied mimesis in the emergence of the posthuman subject. From Platonic abstraction to Turing’s imitation game, hypermimetic conspiracy theories to contagious processes of affective contagion that go viral online before infecting subjects online to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis and microbiomimesis, the ancient concept of mimesis turns out to be, for better and worse, consciously and above all, unconsciously, inscribed in the human and nonhuman contagious processes that give birth to posthuman subjectivity.

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“This Is No Simulation!”: Hypermimesis fromBeing John MalkovichtoHer

Cited by 7 publications

References 14 publications

Posthuman Mimesis I: Concepts for the Mimetic Turn

Posthuman Mimesis I: Concepts for the Mimetic Turn

Postcyberpunk dystopian cityscape and emotion artificial intelligence: A spatio-cognitive analysis of posthuman representation in Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Posthuman Mimesis II - Connections: A Dialogue between Nidesh Lawtoo and Katherine Hayles

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