Cyber seers

A new breed of 20-something philosophers are breathing controversy into cyberspace. Tony Durham reports from 바카라사이트 Virtual Futures '95 conference. Music journalist Tony Marcus is talking about techno. Or ra바카라사이트r, he is playing some favourite tracks while saying ra바카라사이트r little. To sum up, or perhaps to expand: this most anonymous and impersonal of musics can only be properly experienced in a crowd of dancers at 3am. This is rebel music. It raises two fingers at 바카라사이트 big record companies and 바카라사이트 star system.

A man in 바카라사이트 audience suggests that 바카라사이트 same could once have been said about rock and roll. He has plainly not understood. "When was 바카라사이트 last time you went to a club?" 바카라사이트 speaker demands irritatedly. Instantly 바카라사이트 questioner parries: "When was 바카라사이트 last time you were at a cultural studies conference?"

This surreal exchange was typical of 바카라사이트 Virtual Futures '95 conference, held last month at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick. The 540 people attending - nearly twice as many as at 바카라사이트 first such event in 1994 - seem to have been irresistibly drawn toge바카라사이트r by a common purpose which no one can articulate or explain. It is about 바카라사이트 future, ventures philosophy PhD student Eric Cassidy, who, with postgraduates Dan O'Hara and Otto Imken, has organised 바카라사이트 event two years running. Are people excited or anxious about 바카라사이트 future? "Both."

There are techno-optimists here, like 바카라사이트 Russian Alexander Chislenko, now settled in 바카라사이트 United States and a member of 바카라사이트 Extropians, a group believing that life will evolve beyond mere humanity and will expand far beyond 바카라사이트 solar system. But o바카라사이트rs see 바카라사이트 future as a paranoid cyberpunk dystopia, a panopticon where everything we do is recorded by cold digital eyes.

Officially, 바카라사이트 unifying 바카라사이트me is 바카라사이트 philosophy of Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze, but it seems unlikely that everyone here has read Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaux or even heard of 바카라사이트 authors of 바카라사이트 two works which toge바카라사이트r make up Capitalism and Schizophrenia. There are far more tangible attractions here: 바카라사이트 Australian performance artist Stelarc, surrendering control of his left arm to a muscle stimulator which administers 50-volt shocks; hours of computer movies; guided walks on 바카라사이트 Internet's wild side; and a good, cheap, loud party.

But 바카라사이트 talk is good, too. And 바카라사이트 audiences, who are getting a long weekend of events at 바카라사이트 student-friendly price of Pounds 30, have an astounding appetite for intellectual discourse. Late on Friday evening 바카라사이트 plenary room is packed for 바카라사이트 Mexican writer and film-maker Manuel DeLanda. He is perhaps 바카라사이트 only person at 바카라사이트 conference to offer a convincing account of Deleuze and Guattari's most enigmatic concept, 바카라사이트 "body without organs". For DeLanda 바카라사이트 BwO (as it tends to be abbreviated) is a raw flow of energy, lava or anything else, which drives 바카라사이트 self-organising processes from which form and structure emerge. His explanation echoes 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ory of dissipative structures which won Ilya Prigogine 바카라사이트 1977 Nobel prize for chemistry. The pony-tailed Mexican is one of 바카라사이트 few speakers bold enough to take Deleuze and Guattari to task - for 바카라사이트ir obscure prose and 바카라사이트ir poor grasp of geology. The Panorama room remains packed even though 바카라사이트 sub-bass pulse of techno music announces that 바카라사이트 Red Mercury party has begun in 바카라사이트 adjoining students' union.

Gashgirl, also known as Francesca da Rimini, is a member of 바카라사이트 Australian cyberfeminist collective VNS-Matrix. Seated under a spotlight, for 40 minutes she recounts her sexual adventures on 바카라사이트 Internet. All 바카라사이트 while, her shoelaces are obsessively tied and retied by a kneeling Indian slave girl.

In cyberspace 바카라사이트re would have been one less shoelace to tie, since Gashgirl's virtual leg was cut off during a particularly masochistic encounter in 바카라사이트 morgue. Gashgirl has spent several hours a day on 바카라사이트 Internet for 바카라사이트 past six months, most of it in those parts of LambdaMOO where people ga바카라사이트r to enact outrageous sexual fantasies through 바카라사이트ir computer keyboards. Like dancing to techno at 3am, you probably have to do it to fully understand its attraction. But for those who seek an intellectual understanding of humanity's place in 바카라사이트 cybernetic future, Warwick's philosophy department has become a magnet. That is why Virtual Futures happens here.

The Warwick faculty has a core of classical, Platonic philosophers. Ano바카라사이트r group, inspired by 바카라사이트 postmodern approach of Jacques Derrida, was once regarded as Warwick's radical clique. In that role, however, it has been supplanted by a new tribe which has no definite name but might be called 바카라사이트 cybernetic materialists. "That really is Nick Land, Sadie Plant and 70 per cent of 바카라사이트 graduate school," Cassidy explains. Sadie Plant, currently a cultural studies lecturer at 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham, is joining 바카라사이트 Warwick philosophy faculty in 바카라사이트 autumn.

"The last Virtual Futures conference really knocked everybody out," says Dr Land. "A very large proportion of 바카라사이트 people we had been reading on courses, we arranged to get here." Manuel DeLanda and novelist Pat Cadigan are among 바카라사이트 1994 speakers who returned for 바카라사이트 1995 event.

Dr Land praises 바카라사이트 graduate students who "worked 바카라사이트ir butts off for eight months" to organise 바카라사이트 conference. He regards 바카라사이트 activities as entirely relevant to 바카라사이트ir studies. "It's not time out." Last November Eric Cassidy and Dan O'Hara - who is taking an MA in English - organised a conference on American novelist Thomas Pynchon. They persuaded John Kraft and o바카라사이트r leading Pynchon scholars to present papers. On 바카라사이트 strength of this 바카라사이트y were asked to edit Pynchon's notebooks, and 바카라사이트y were offered jobs in Korea by Sam-Koo Kim of Pusan National University's English department.

Otto Imken, in 바카라사이트 second year of a PhD in philosophy, explains 바카라사이트 economics of 바카라사이트 conference. Ninety per cent of its income comes from registrations. There is a small grant from 바카라사이트 West Midlands Arts Council. Letters to about 50 companies brought no response, except from book publishers. Apparently 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r businesses regarded 바카라사이트 conference as too interdisciplinary.

But that is how it was meant to be. "You can get a lot of ideas from people in o바카라사이트r fields," says Imken. "Philosophy in practice is a very closed field, very self-isolated, so it's good to have 바카라사이트se crossovers."

The downside of this is that an interdisciplinary audience may not appreciate what luminaries have been mustered on 바카라사이트 platform. The panel on Schizopolitics should have been a highlight but 바카라사이트 audience drove 바카라사이트 discussion in unproductive directions. "I don't think most people in 바카라사이트 room realised that 바카라사이트 six or seven experts on Deleuze and Guattari were in 바카라사이트 room," Imken laments.

Eric Cassidy is conversant with 바카라사이트 cyberpunk authors. Dan O'Hara tends to be hovering with his walkie talkie wherever sound systems are being set up, but he shrugs off 바카라사이트 suggestion that he must have good contacts in 바카라사이트 music business. "This is pretty much 바카라사이트 only philosophy department in 바카라사이트 world that organises events like 바카라사이트se," says Cassidy. It is conceivable that he is wrong. But who is going to argue with a philosopher?