„It is not the One that becomes Two or even directly three, four, five etc. It is not a multiple derived from the one, or to which one is added (n+1). It is comprised not of units but of dimensions, or rather directions in motion. It has neither beginning nor end, but always a middle (milieu) from which it grows and which it overspills. It constitutes linear multiplicities with n dimensions having neither subject nor object, which can be laid out on a plane of consistency, and from which the one is always subtracted (n-1).“
(Deleuze & Guattari, Rhizome)
No knowledge produced is an emanation of the subject, but of its encounters.
Bionote
After my graduation in sociology at the Institute of Sociology, Free University Berlin I’ve worked as a collaborator in artificial intelligence studies at the Mind Machine Project at the MIT, Cambridge/MA, as a visiting fellow at the Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans (ROCEEH) project in Tübingen, Germany, at the Interacting Minds Center, Aarhus, Denmark and with the interdisciplinary working group menschenformen, Berlin. I have earned a doctorate degree in sociology at the Institute of Sociology, Free University Berlin with an interdisciplinary thesis on the co-evolution of mind, culture and technology during the formation and unfolding of the technosphere. It was later published as Generative Realitäten I (excerpts; reviews).
During my years as a PhD student I have been a lecturer for sociology at the HTK Academy of Design, and lecturer for philosophy, epistemology and aesthetics at BTK University of Art and Design Berlin. I have co-edited several books at sine causa publishing house and co-founded the journal Plateau. Magazin für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie which is dedicated to the examination of cultural theoretical and philosophical anthropological thought beyond the paradigms of the 20th Century. Previously I worked as an instructor in cultural evolution, philosophy of technology and futures studies at the interdisciplinary research platform The New Centre for Research and Practice.
Currently I’m a lecturer for history of knowledge at Leuphana University, Lüneburg and a lecturer for sociology at the University Basel, where I taught seminars on the global transformation, including courses on the history and future of globalization, the historical formation and future role of China and the history and future of media.
Books and Journals
Generative Realitäten II. Zeitform und Metaphysik der Technologischen Zivilisation. Zur Kosmologie des 21. Jahrhunderts (forthcoming)
Generative Realitäten I. Die Technologische Zivilisation als neue Achsenzeit und Zivilisationsstufe. Eine Anthropologie des 21. Jahrhunderts, Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft 2019 (link) (introduction I) (introduction II) (excerpts) (reviews)
Endlichkeitskaskaden. Fünf Aufsätze über den Rand, Berlin: sine causa 2009
Vom Kreaturdenken. Radio-Unterhaltung mit Hans Peter Weber, with Ternes, B., Fischer, J., Berlin: sine causa 2007
Weltgesellschaft, Kontrollgesellschaft, Gesellschaft?, with menschenformen, Marburg: tectum 2005
Plateau. Magazin für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie, Vol. 4, Essay, 2008, (ed. with Ulas Aktas & Torsten Leder / sine causa Berlin)
Plateau. Magazin für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie, Vol. 3, Musik und Musizismus, 2007 (ed. with Ulas Aktas & Torsten Leder / sine causa Berlin)
Plateau. Magazin für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie, Vol. 2, Technik als soziales Medium 2005 (ed. with Ulas Aktas & Torsten Leder / sine causa Berlin)
Plateau. Magazin für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie, Vol. 1, Was heißt Denken heute? 2005 (ed. with Ulas Aktas & Torsten Leder / sine causa Berlin)
Articles
with Hanno Pahl: „Kulturevolutionäre Erkundungen zum Potenzial postkapitalistischer Medien am Beispiel von Blockchain-Technologien. In: Ernst, C.,/Krtilova, K./Schröter, J./Sudmann, A. (eds): Handbuch Medientheorien im 21. Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2024 (link)
„Zur Zukunft des Genies. Eine Einführung in die kulturevolutionäre Perspektive auf das Phänomen menschlicher Schöpfungsleistung“, in: Hutmacher, F./Mayrhofer, R. (eds.): Errungenschaften: Historische und psychologische Perspektiven auf eminente Leistungen. Die Psychogenese der Menschheit Band X, Lengerich: Pabst 2023, 95-108 (link)
„Am Scheideweg des Denkens über den Menschen. Philosophische Anthropologie im 21. Jahrhundert“ in: Soziologische Revue, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2020, 553-565 (link)
„What Is It Like to Be Schrödinger’s Cat? and Other Tales from the Edge of Planetarization“ in: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, „Lockdown Theory,“ Vol. 17, No. 1, 2020, 106-111 (link)
„What Is It Like to Be Schrödinger’s Cat? and Other Tales from the Edge of Planetarization“ in: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, special issue „Lockdown Theory,“ April 18 2020 (link)
with Niels Johannsen and John McGraw: „Weapons in and as History: On the Ontogenerative Function of Materialized Preemption and Intelligence in Weapons Technology“ in: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 16, No. 1-2, 2019, 68-77 (pdf)
„Distributing Potentiality. Post-capitalist Economies and the Generative Time Regime“ in: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 15, No. 1-2, 2018, 8-44 (pdf)
with Niels Johannsen and John McGraw: „Waffengeschichte“ in: Jüttemann, G. (ed.): Entwicklungen der Menschheit. Humanwissenschaften in der Perspektive der Integration, Lengerich: Pabst 2014, 191-199 (pdf)
„Leben im Futur II Konjunktiv. Über das Phänomen Atmosphäre und dessen Bedeutung im Zeitalter der technischen Immersion“ in: Institut für immersive Medien (eds.): Jahrbuch immersiver Medien 2013. Atmosphären: Gestimmte Räume und sinnliche Wahrnehmung, Marburg: Schüren 2013, 23-37 (pdf)
with Daniel Moreno: „Reconstruir el Futuro y el Pasado a Través del Pensamiento Presente y la Historia“ in: Journal of Feelsynapsis, No. 10, 2013, 40-44
„Einbruch in die Technosphäre: Skizze eines postanthropischen Technikbegriffs zur weiteren Erkundung der Möglichkeit technogener Nähe“ in: Ternes, B. (ed.): ’Menschen’ formen Menschenformen: Zum technologischen Umbau der conditio humana, Berlin: sine causa 2009, 197-291
„soma insight factor 1,5“ in: Plateau: Zeitschrift für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie, Vol. 4, Essay, Berlin: sine causa 2008, 125
„Über das Hören des stillen Wunders Musik“ in: Plateau: Zeitschrift für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie, Vol. 3, Musik und Musizismus, Berlin: sine causa 2006, 34-53 (pdf)
„Abschied der Räume“, in: menschenformen (eds.): Weltgesellschaft, Kontrollgesellschaft, Gesellschaft? Marburg: tectum 2005, 65-88
„On the Road: Geräusch von unterwegs“ in: Plateau. Zeitschrift für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie, Vol. 2, Technik als soziales Medium, Berlin: sine causa 2005, 90-91
„Denken nach der Erde“ in: Plateau. Zeitschrift für experimentelle Kulturanthropologie, Vol. 1, Was heißt Denken heute? Berlin: sine causa 2005, 30-42
„Über die Auswirkungen der Entdeckung der Zentralperspektive“ sine causa online, 2000, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/miles/zp.htm
Talks and Presentations
Affektarchitekturen der Zivilisation. Podcast conversation with Alexander Wendt and Hannes Wendler, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Philosophie und Psychologie, „Der philosophisch-psychologische Podcast“, 11 Jul. 2022 (link)
The Enframing and its Metaphysics. A Cultural Evolutionary Perspective on the Emergence, Constitution, and Historical Role of Measurement and Standards. Talk at the Workshop „Measuring Value and Accommodating the Gods. Workshop III: The Concepts of Equivalence and Value“, Aarhus University, 29 Jun. 2022
Zum Ursprung sozialen Bewusstseins. Podcast conversation with Alexander Wendt and Hannes Wendler, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Philosophie und Psychologie, „Der philosophisch-psychologische Podcast“, 8 Jun. 2022 (link)
Neue Technikanthropologie. Podcast conversation with Alexander Wendt and Hannes Wendler, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Philosophie und Psychologie, „Der philosophisch-psychologische Podcast“, 8 Nov. 2021 (link)
Zur Regelmäßigkeit in der Menschwerdung. Podcast conversation with Alexander Wendt and Hannes Wendler, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Philosophie und Psychologie, „Der philosophisch-psychologische Podcast“, 13 Sep. 2021 (link)
Die anthropologischen Grundlagen der Universalgeschichte. Podcast conversation with Alexander Wendt and Hannes Wendler, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Philosophie und Psychologie, „Der philosophisch-psychologische Podcast“, 17 Aug. 2021 (link)
Generativität, Informationalismus, Technologische Zivilisation. Beiträge neuerer Technikanthropologie und Zivilisationstheorie zur soziotechnischen Prognostik und Transformationsforschung. Talk at the ITAS-Kolloquium, Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und Systemanalyse, KIT, Karlsruhe, 11 Oct. 2021
Zur Ontologie von Information, Intention, Zeit und Sozialität (ja, alles in einem). Talk at the workshop „Information? Zur Revision der Sozialisationstheorie. Ko-Evolution von Sozialität und Intentionalität“, Institut für Soziologie, Universität Münster, 1 Oct. 2021
The Meaning of Life. A Journey to the Origins of Worlds. Lecture for the School for Materialist Research promotional lecture series, 29 Jun. 2021 (link)
The Enframing from the Stone Age to the Present: Revealing Patterns in Techno- and Noogenesis (Introduction to Generative Realitäten I). Talk at the Human-Tech-Colloquium, University of Twente, 28 Oct. 2020
Is the Covid-19 Crisis the End of “Capitalist Realism”? From Brute Globalization to Smart Planetarization. Presentation during the panel „Sheltering Places. Thinking the COVID-19 Pandemic“, organized by „The New Centre for Research and Practice“, 8 Apr. 2020 (link, pdf)
1347 | 2020. Plagues as Catalyzers of System Transitions. From the Black Death to the Coronavirus. Presentation during the panel „Sheltering Places. Thinking the COVID-19 Pandemic“, organized by „The New Centre for Research and Practice“, 25 Mar. 2020 (link, pdf)
Einführung in Generative Realitäten I. Hintergrund und Ziel des Werkes. Talk at the workshop „Generative Realitäten“, Institute of Sociology, University Basel, 13-14 Feb. 2020
Deep Futurology: Reconstructing the Outside. Presentation at the „Transmediale – Vorspiel“ event Interlocutories, organized by „The New Centre for Research and Practice“, Spike Art Magazine, Berlin, 19 Jan. 2019 (link)
Revealing Generativity: On the Deep Structures of Becoming. Introduction to the Seminar „Layers of Generativity: Axial Age, Modernity, Technological Civilization (Reconstructing Futures II).“ The New Centre for Research and Practice, 21 Jul. 2018
Neues Kulturdenken. Zu den Innovationspotentialen des Modells der Kulturellen Kapazitäten für die Kulturwissenschaften. Lecture at the meeting „Kult-Ur-Mensch. Kulturkonzepte für die Erforschung der Menschwerdung,“ Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, organized by „Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans,“ Heidelberg, 24 Nov. 2017
Determinism, Self-Organziation, Generativity: On the History and Future of the Relation between Mind and Universe. Lecture for the talk series “Vorschule,” art collective Betakontext, Berlin, 14 Oct. 2017
Posthumanistic Cognition: From Formal-Operationalism to Generative-Operationalism. Presentation at the “9th Conference of the ‘Beyond Humanism’ Conference Series: Posthuman Studies”, John Cabot University, Rome, 21 Jul. 2017
Beyond Materialism. The Epistemological Consequences of Arno Bammé’s Reading of Sohn-Rethel. Keynote presentation at the summer school “School for Politics and Critique 2017,“ Ohrid, 29 Jun. 2017
The Search for the Second Sun. Introduction to the Seminar „Archeology of Abstraction (Reconstructing Futures I).“ The New Centre for Research and Practice, 20 May 2017
Zur Formalisierung des Tübinger Modells der Erweiterung kultureller Kapazitäten. Lecture at the menschenformen public seminar room, Berlin, 22 Jul. 2016
Outward Frontier Inwards. Ökonomie als Medium der Ausdehnung funktionaler Relationen in zivilisatorischen Hyperflexibilitätsstrukturen. Talk at the conference “Die Ökonomie des Menschen,” Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-University Frankfurt, 26 Oct. 2015
Cosmology at Hand. Atmospheres as Perceptions of Future Attractors. Lecture at the “PAF Summer University 2014. Get Reassembled: Time, Intelligence, Acceleration,” Performing Arts Forum, St Erme Outre et Ramecourt, 12 Aug. 2014
Atmospheres. A Type of Cognition for Second Order Futures of Body-Environment-Relations. Presentation at the IMC Seminars, Interacting Minds Center, Aarhus University, 8 Apr. 2014 (abstract)
Von der Vergangenheit in die Zukunft: Beiträge von Urgeschichte und Soziologie zur kulturellen Evolution. Seminar with Miriam Haidle at Forum Scientiarum, Tübingen, 31 Jan.-1 Feb. 2014
Cultural Evolution and the Propagation of the most Flexible. Presentation at the workshop „Epigenetic Landscapes and Social Configurations“, Interacting Minds Center, Aarhus University, 9 Jan. 2014 (abstract)
Iterative Emergence in the Expansion of Cultural Capacities. Presentation at the workshop “Technologies of the Mind”, Interacting Minds Center, Aarhus University, 13 Dec. 2013
Technological Evolution from the Perspective of Embodiment and Enactivism. Talk at the conference „17. Herbstakademie, The Implications of Embodiment: Enactive, Clinical, Social,“ Heidelberg, 2 Oct. 2012 (abstract)
Neue interdisziplinäre Anthropologie: Der Mensch als Kompositwesen? Lecture at the menschenformen public seminar room, Berlin, 22 Aug. 2012
Generative Realitäten. Über Zeitlichkeit und Weltverhältnis in der technologischen Zivilisation. Presentation at the “Marsilius Summer School, Neue interdisziplinäre Anthropologie: Leib, Geist, Kultur,” Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 24 Jul. 2012 (abstract)
Atmospheres as Type of Cognition for Operation Latencies. Presentation at the conference “Embodiment, Intersubjectivity and Psychopathology,” Heidelberg, 30 Sep.-2 Oct. 2010
Menschenformen und Zeitdiagnose. Talk at Betakontext public seminar, Freie Internationale Tankstelle, Berlin, 15 Aug. 2009
Atmospheralität und technogene Nähe. Ergänzungen räumlicher Organisation sozialer Beziehungen oder diesseits des Raumkonzepts? Presentation with Bernd Ternes at the interdisciplinary colloquium „Space, Place, Power“, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 8 Jan. 2008
Denken nach der Erde. Lecture at the lecture series “Was heißt Denken heute?” menschenformen public lecture series, Berlin, 9 Dec. 2004