Technological innovation in human-computer interfaces, medical breakthroughs in nano- and biotechnology, algorithmic governance, new technologies to intervene in anthropogenic climate change, all seriously challenge established understandings of the human being and its environment. Mind-blowing questions are now being asked, such as: What is the nature of the future human being? What are the potentials of new genetics? Of cloning? Can AI develop human qualities? What happens to social relations when we are primarily living in digital, virtual spaces? What social status do robots, avatars and digital selves acquire?
The research project "Technoscientific Immortality: A study of Human Futures" examines one key aspect of the future human that might change the core of what it means to be in the world, and to be part of social relations, namely death. Through six different ethnographic case studies the project will develop comparative analysis of imaginaries and practices of technoscientific immortality practices in Russia and the US.
