DECENTERED FUTURE

By Ralph Mercer

THIS article aims to introduce the concept of ‘Decentred Futures ’ as a means to explore posthumanism as a philosophy/ practice to examine the future. In future technology notes, the futurists’ relationship with technology, the assumptions, methods, and beliefs as a habitus that presently frame our perception of possible futures will be explored in more depth.

As a futures concept, philosophical posthumanism focuses on decentring the human from the discourse and can be described as post-humanism (not post-human), postanthropocentrism, and a post-dualism approach. The ‘post’ of post-humanism does not advocate moving beyond the human species in some biological or evolutionary manner. Instead, offering a new vantage point to understand what or who has been omitted from an anthropocentric worldview.

Posthumanism becomes a futures tool to peel back the layers of our hierarchical legacies that betray our assumptions and biases about our technological partner. Technology and human futures are entangled in the evolution of human social and cognitive development, pre-dating the creation of future studies, literacies, and the accepted boundaries that separate them. The boundaries that separate the human from material world are often a result

of humanity’s need to make sense of the world around them and orient themselves in their professions. This human-centred belief seeks to create knowledge about the world to fit human needs; the tools of knowledge creation are our technologies, sciences and metaphors that re-enforce the primacy of the human overall other species. As a result, the discourse around technology is often full of tension and conflict, using metaphors of fear and hope to create stories that directly impact the futures we can imagine or accept.

The assumption and beliefs that construct boundaries give rhythm and stability to the practices of an identified group or profession in what could be described as a habitus , harmonizing their behaviours to some extent. The rhythm, vocabulary allow the individual to have a ‘sense of the game’ and an intuitive understanding of the socially accepted rules of behaviour, acting and talking based on one’s position in a field of work.

‘Decentered Futures’ is a rejection of the ‘rules of the game’ and the separation of the human and technology focusing on elevating the non-human, less-thanhuman, and more-than-human to equal importance when creating stories about the future. This shift in looking at the futures from a different perspective opens possibilities and exposes the often ignored, alternative and disavowed voices in our images of the future.

Planetary conditions require that we urgently rethink our beliefs and interrogate our assumptions, to pause and unlearn, realizing that futures we disseminate through our stories and literature can be re-written and re-told. In a decentred future, humans become entangled, part of the planetary networks, not the central character. It is no longer possible or desirable to separate human agency and identity from the social and technological environments.

The title of this magazine, “Human Futures,” is a small example of the privilege and exceptionalism assigned to being human. The metaphors become a process of re-enforcing the images of the future that involves normalization the belief of the human as the center of the story and resisting images that would disrupt the specific ways of thinking, talking and acting. For many, the concept of decentered futures may be controversial. For some, it may be seen as an erosion of the very essence of what they believe it means to be human.

Futurists and the field of futures studies change how people think the world can be; however, this requires futurists to speak with varied, diverse and divergent voices. Without the constant exploration of new futures concepts, the current beliefs and assumptions will constrain the writings and practices becoming a force to replicate the past and present into the new tomorrow.

Posthumanism offers a means to understand and challenge the assumptions, beliefs and practices that create the habitus that binds the future to a prescriptive path. Decentered Futures accepts we are entangled in the world, not the privileged center and encourages the messy questions about the human place in the images and stories of the future.

Notes:

1 Decentred Futures is created from the works Francesco Fernando book ‘Philosophical Posthumanism (2019)’ and Karen Barad work in the book ‘Meeting the Universe halfway: Quantum Physics & the Entanglement of Matter & Meaning (2007)’.

2 Habitus as used in this article is based on the works of Pierre Bourdieu work “In Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977)” and is presented here as a socially constructed way of knowing which privileges certain modes of thinking about the future.

Future Technical Notes:

2nd article will be human technology entanglement 3rd article futures habitus 4th article decentred futures possibilities