On the Digital Semiosphere: Culture, Media and Science for the Anthropocene

Description

It is only since global media and digital communications became accessible to ordinary populations – with Telstar, jumbo jets, the pc and mobile devices – that humans have been able to experience their own world as planetary in extent. What does it mean to be one species on one planet, rather than a patchwork of scattered, combative and mutually untranslatable cultures? One of the most original and prescient thinkers to tackle cultural globalisation was Juri Lotman (1922–93). On the Digital Semiosphere shows how his general model of the semiosphere provides a unique and compelling key to the dynamics and functions of today’s globalised digital media systems and, in turn, their interactions and impact on planetary systems. Developing their own reworked and updated model of Lotman’s evolutionary and dynamic approach to the semiosphere or cultural universe, the authors offer a unique account of the world-scale mechanisms that shape media, meanings, creativity and change – both productive and destructive. In so doing, they re-examine the relations among the contributing sciences and disciplines that have emerged to explain these phenomena, seeking to close the gap between biosciences and humanities in an integrated ‘cultural science’ approach. Cover Contents Illustrations PART ONE Spheres and globes 1 A semiotic theory of spheres 2 A short history of globes 3 Juri Lotman and cultural semiotics PART TWO Elements of the digital semiosphere 4 ‘Inside thinking worlds’ 5 Dialogue and dynamics 6 Cultural semiotics in a multidisciplinary environment PART THREE Micro-scale: Text 7 What does culture want? 8 Text, transmission, translation 9 Text, creation, newness 10 Text, preservation, memory PART FOUR Meso-scale: Institution 11 Planetary systems of culture production 12 Bubbles: Production of continual systems 13 Blows: Production of discontinuities 14 Foam: Production of dynamic multiplicity PART FIVE Macro-scale: Global system 15 Globe: Production of digital distinctions 16 The Digital semiosphere and the technosphere 17 Semiosis: Regulating politics and economics PART SIX Cultural science for the Anthropocene 18 Staged conflict: New demes and classes 19 Populations of rules: The constitution and coordination of media-made groups 20 Where to now, planet? Acknowledgements References Index