TIM_BM_021 ENTROPOLOGY

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2022
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
dr. Louis Armand (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Jana Horáková, Ph.D. (alternate examiner)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Jana Horáková, Ph.D.
Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Bc. Jitka Leflíková
Supplier department: Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 11. 10. 10:00–17:40 K24, Wed 12. 10. 10:00–17:40 K24
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 50 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 1/50, only registered: 0/50, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/50
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This seminar examines the proposition that any system can be entroped or entrained to function as a "neural network." In these terms the linkage between information system & ecosystem brings into view a way of reconceptualising the anthropocene (beyond being a transformative complex of human interventions in the world) as a mode of analytic in terraformation that not only produces catastrophes but also produces a mode of "catastrophic intelligence." Whether or not humanity can "learn" from the anthropocene is no longer the question here, but what the anthropocene can mean for the idea of a general "pedagogy" of non-human & post-human systems, & ultimately the place of humanly-defined "intelligence" within these. Where learning has previously involved a necessary hierarchy of knowledge-power, entropology examines the ways in which "machines," or systems in general, make possible a way of *entering into resonance* -- whereby information (analytics) become communicable through interactive feedback. This feedback produces self-modifying behaviour along the entire spectrum of possible "communication" (it is not conventionally hierarchical), implying that information, too, is evolutionary.
Literature
  • Louis Armand, ENTROPOLOGY (https://www.academia.edu/77484038/ENTROPOLOGY)
  • Celia Sphinxter, ON THE ENTROPEMENT OF COVID-19 (AN ENTROPOLOGY) (https://diffractionscollective.org/on-the-entropement-of-covid-19-an-entropology/)
  • Marshall McLuhan, THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE (https://designopendata.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/themediumisthemassage_marshallmcluhan_quentinfiore.pdf)
  • Buckminster Fuller, SYNERGETICS: EXPLORATIONS IN THE GEOMETRY OF THINKING (https://fullerfuture.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/buckminsterfuller-synergetics.pdf)
  • Louis Armand, TERATOLOGIES (https://www.academia.edu/41844345/Teratologies)
  • Charlie Wood, HOW TO MAKE THE UNIVERSE THINK FOR US (https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-to-make-the-universe-think-for-us-20220531/)
  • Benjamin Bratton, THE TERRAFORMING (https://www.are.na/block/5810611)
  • Allison Whitten, AI OVERCOMES STUMBLING BLOCK ON BRAIN-INSPIRED HARDWARE (https://www.quantamagazine.org/ai-overcomes-stumbling-block-on-brain-inspired-hardware-20220217/)
Assessment methods
Assessment will be based on attendence at the intensive 2-day seminar, plus a 3,000 word essay that examines, within a critical/theoretical framework, the seminar's central proposition that "any system can exhibit 'intelligence.'" Due date: xxxxx
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2022/TIM_BM_021