The Primitive, Technology and Horror: A Posthuman Biology

Abstract

Recent works have explored the concept of posthumanism as a radical decentring of the human, \nhumanism and the humanities in the wake of the complexificaiton of technology and systems, and new \ninsight into nonhuman life (Pettman, 2011; Wolfe, 2009). In this article, we argue that posthumanism is \nnot just an epistemology (Wolfe, 2009), but an aesthetic that blends three elements ? the primitive, \ntechnology and horror. The interrelation of these three elements produces an aesthetic sensibility, that \nsays three things about non-humanist conceptions of life. First, we draw attention to metamorphosis as an \nengine that encourages the viewer to recognise life not as being, but as perpetual becoming. However, as \nan antidote to the liberatory promises of `flow?, we specifically argue for a distinction between morphing\nand mutating, showing how each articulates opposing fantasies of posthumanism. Second, the concept of \nprimal technology is introduced, which injects the humanist understanding of technology with an \nalternative, subterranean and posthuman supplement. Third, proto-atavism introduces the concept that \nmultiple paradigms of life exist on the peripheries of humanist life. Ancient and future evolutionary traits \nexist in the present ? both in the aesthetic imagination and in everyday life. Ultimately, we work towards \na more wide-ranging idea ? a posthuman biology ? an ethical imperative which reminds us that, in a \ntechnological age, life is no longer containable in `simple? life.

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