**********Apologies for Cross-Posting - Please Consider the Below Call for Chapters on Cybernetics and Science Fiction ********



Call for papers: Cybernetics in Science Fiction

When artist Neil Harbisson implanted a cyborg antenna in his head to extend and augment the range of colours his eyes could perceive, it marked a potential turning point in the relationship between art and cybernetics.  Conversely, the concept of Artificial Intelligence continues to create a chasm of anxiety between the possibilities for human progress and its imagined demise.

The use of chatbots to potentially create student essays has created shockwaves within academia itself, but in a wider sense, alarmist scenarios, including from the pioneers of the technology itself (Geoffrey Hinton),  echo the dystopian imagination of science fiction narratives, suggesting the ongoing, symbiotic relationship between art and reality. 

Cybernetics has been in the English language since 1948, borrowing from both the language and philosophy of classical Greek for kubernetes, the steersman of a ship. Meaning at core the feedback loops or mechanisms through a mechanical or animal system, the cybernetic ideas of Norbert Wiener have proved pervasive in science and the popular understanding of science. The advent of ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence and the multitude of terms that begin with the prefix ‘cyber’ attest to the enduring and still expanding understandings of cybernetics. Scientifically informed science fiction writers have continually found inspiration in cybernetics. A major work, Patricia Warrick’s The Cybernetic Imagination in Science Fiction explored the multiple interpretations of cybernetics in post-war science fiction. That work came out in 1980 and since then, few larger scale studies of cybernetics in science fiction have appeared. 

However, cybernetics themselves remain a compelling source of inspiration. Among the most notable may be the Cybermen of Doctor Who, the Cybernauts of The Avengers and The New Avengers, and the Borg of Star Trek, from The Next Generation to Picard. Yet these famous examples may not necessarily distil cybernetics with any particular degree of accuracy, proposing a science fiction version of cybernetics related to spare part surgery and the replacement of body parts rather than to a systems theory. Thus, the cyborg (a synthesis of cyborg and organism) is the most commonly visible iteration of cybernetic concepts, ranging from the mainstream televisual series The Bionic Woman (1976-78) and The Six-Million Dollar Man (1973-1978) to the villains of science-fiction and horror in Star Wars (Darth Vader, General Grievous) and The Terminator franchise.

Yet the point of fiction is not to be instrumentalist but to give creative expression to the range of possibilities (and fears) that the concept of cybernetics itself proposes rather than to strict conceptual accuracy. This call for papers is for chapters on how cybernetics has been imagined, including those taking note of differences between science fiction and real-world applications. It is anticipated that a focus on the different paths taken by science fiction and science will be analytically fruitful. Contributions on mainstream, screen versions of the cyborg as 'replacement parts' are welcome. Papers on the wider print tradition and on the scientific verisimilitude of cybernetics are also encouraged.

There is a diversity of genres and works that could be considered as well as a rich number of themes including, but by no means limited to:
 
•	Disability, spare parts, and surgery
•	Cybernetic modification 
•	 The ‘Whiteness’ of cybernetics
•	Trans-generic cybernetics
•	Global representations of cybernetics
•	Videogames (Mortal Kombat e.g.)
•	Anime (Ghost in the Shell e.g.)
•	Cybernetics in popular franchises (Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Terminator, Marvel/DC etc.)
•	Gender and Cybernetics
•	Cybernetics and ‘futurism’
•	The posthuman experience 
•	Technophobia 
•	Cyperpunk

Proposals from different national contexts and through the lens of diversity will be especially welcome.

Advice for contributors

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, we ask that you submit an abstract of up to 250 words explaining the focus and approach of your proposed essay as well as a brief biography of 50 words.  The proposed volume is intended to be scholarly but accessible in tone and approach. Each contribution should be around 6000 words.  Abstracts should be emailed to [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] by September 15th 2023 and contributors with successful abstracts will be notified in early October.
Full chapters would be expected by April 26th 2024. 

--------------------------------------------------------
BAFTSS mailing list
--------------------------------------------------------
To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the BAFTSS list, please visit:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=baftss
-------------------------------------------------------
This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members of BAFTSS.
--------------------------------------------------------