SHORT REPORT FROM THE WORKSHOP: BETWEEN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INFORMATION: GILBERT SIMONDON AND THE QUESTION OF COMPLEXITY AND CONTROL

CCP held a one-day workshop on May 15, 2019 on the relation between the concepts of information in the works of Gilbert Simondon and different stages of cybernetic theory up to some strands of complexity theory.

The guiding intuition for the day was to understand Simondonian concepts as tools that could bridge gaps between paradigms of control and paradigms of complexity. 

The two invited guests are experts in the ontogenetic philosophy of Gilbert Simondon: Andrea Bardin from Oxford Brookes University recently published a very precise monograph using the complete works of Simondon plus unpublished archive material to demonstrate a Simondonian political philosophy of individuation. By way of rich historiographic descriptions, he situated Simondon and portrayed his intellectual milieu. Pablo Rodriguez from Uni­ver­si­dad de Bue­nos Ai­res is a Spanish translator of Simondon and has written on aspects of communication and organization in Simondon. 

The well visited workshop was divided into two parts: we started in the morning with a close reading and lively discussions of selected passages from L’individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d’information and from Communication et information. 

In the second part, the invited guests gave short presentations on the topics of historical epistemology in Hobbes and Simondon, on concepts of information in cybernetics, on the development of key concepts in cybernetics from Norbert Wiener to Heinz von Förster. 

The workshop concluded with a session on biopolitical implications in different 20^th century theories and the productive role of control concepts therein.

 

ZEITDIMENSIONEN DER NACHHALTIGKEIT

26. und 27. Februar 2019

Be­reits 1989 hat Hel­ga No­wot­ny kon­sta­tiert, dass die „Um­welt­schlei­fen mensch­li­chen Han­delns zu Zeit­schlei­fen wer­den, die auf die Ge­gen­wart zurück­wir­ken“. Das war am Ende des Kal­ten Krie­ges bzw. an der Schwel­le ei­ner Auflösung der Drei­tei­lung des Glo­bus in eine Ers­te, Zwei­te und Drit­te Welt. In die­sen Übergängen for­miert sich auch die Idee der „nach­hal­ti­gen Ent­wick­lung“, mar­kiert durch den Brundt­land-Be­richt Un­se­re ge­mein­sa­me Zu­kunft (1987). In­zwi­schen wer­den Ver­gan­gen­heit, Ge­gen­wart und Zu­kunft un­ter dem Be­griff An­thro­pozän ins Verhält­nis ge­setzt und be­kom­men in­fol­ge des Nar­ra­tivs der gre­at ac­ce­le­ra­ti­on ei­nen his­to­ri­schen In­dex, der von der nor­ma­ti­ven Aus­rich­tung an Kli­ma- oder Ent­wick­lungs­zie­len ge­setzt wird.
Im Lich­te der Er­kennt­nis­se des In­ter­na­tio­nal Geo­s­phe­re Bio­s­phe­re Pro­gram­me und des In­ter­go­vern­men­tal Pa­nel on Cli­ma­te Chan­ge ha­ben in­zwi­schen vor al­lem Na­tur­wis­sen­schaft­ler ein neu­es Ge­schichts­bild for­mu­liert, das die Ge­gen­wart in eine sol­che Zeit­schlei­fe ein­wi­ckelt. Da­nach ist die Ge­gen­wart die Fol­ge von geo­lo­gisch oder at­mo­sphärisch se­di­men­tier­ten Hand­lun­gen, die wie­der­um mit­tels Com­pu­ter­si­mu­la­tio­nen in die Zu­kunft fort­ge­schrie­ben wer­den, um auf die­se Wei­se in der Ge­gen­wart zu Hand­lungs­emp­feh­lun­gen zu führen und da­mit die Zeit­schlei­fe zu schließen. Pla­ne­ta­ry boun­da­ries, li­mi­tier­te car­ry­ing ca­pa­ci­ties und erschöpfte car­bon bud­gets pro­gnos­ti­zie­ren eine kul­tu­rell be­reits vielfältig an­ti­zi­pier­te End­lich­keit, die im ra­di­ka­len Wi­der­spruch zur einst un­ab­seh­bar of­fe­nen Zu­kunft der Mo­der­ne steht und an Mo­ti­ve aus der Apo­ka­lyp­tik er­in­nern. An­de­rer­seits mo­bi­li­sie­ren Nach­hal­tig­keits­dis­kur­se ge­genwärtig auch uto­pi­sche Po­ten­zia­le ei­ner ganz an­de­ren Zu­kunft, die teil­wei­se auch auf älte­re Zu­kunfts­bezüge und –mo­del­lie­run­gen re­kur­rie­ren. Vielfälti­ge Ak­teu­re auf dem Feld ver­su­chen le­ver­age points zu iden­ti­fi­zie­ren, die tief­grei­fen­de Sys­tem­verände­run­gen trig­gern sol­len. Nach­hal­tig­keits­dis­kur­se eröff­nen in­so­fern neue Fra­ge­fel­der, die die Zeit­ge­schich­te und Phi­lo­so­phie in be­son­de­rer Wei­se her­aus­for­dern. Die An­nah­me die­ser Her­aus­for­de­rung kann zu Er­kennt­nis­ka­te­go­ri­en führen, die Ver­gan­gen­heit, Ge­gen­wart und Zu­kunft in neu­er Wei­se mit­ein­an­der in Be­zie­hung set­zen und Zukünfte be­den­ken können, die so­wohl er­wart­bar er­schei­nen als auch an­ders sein sol­len.
In die­sem Sin­ne un­ter­sucht der Work­shop Zeit­re­gime, Zu­kunfts­bezüge und die Be­deu­tung von Ge­schich­te über­haupt im Kon­text der Nach­hal­tig­keits­dis­kur­se der letz­ten Jahr­zehn­te und fragt, in­wie­fern an die­sen Denk­for­men und Prak­ti­ken eine Ver­schie­bung der „Zeit­lich­keit der Ge­schich­te” (Rein­hart Ko­sel­leck), neue Zeit­lich­kei­ten bzw. eine Epis­te­mo­lo­gie der His­to­ri­zität be­ob­ach­tet wer­den kann. Uns in­ter­es­siert die epis­te­mo­lo­gi­sche Her­aus­for­de­rung und kom­ple­xe Re­kon­fi­gu­ra­ti­on von Zeit­lich­keit in der Ge­gen­wart als Auf­ga­be des theo­re­ti­schen und me­tho­di­schen Um­gangs mit Ge­schich­te in den Ge­schichts­wis­sen­schaf­ten. Zu­gleich se­hen wir in die­ser epis­te­mo­lo­gi­schen Her­aus­for­de­rung ein Grund­la­gen­pro­blem der Nach­hal­tig­keits­wis­sen­schaf­ten auf­grund ih­rer re­fle­xi­ven Nor­ma­ti­vität und der in sie ein­ge­las­se­nen prag­ma­ti­schen Zu­kunfts­bezüge.
Der Work­shop in Lübeck geht die­sen Fra­gen im For­mat ei­ner in­ter­dis­zi­plinären Round­ta­ble-Dis­kus­si­on nach.

PROGRAMM

Round­ta­ble Dis­kus­si­on mit Chris­ti­an Ge­u­len, Rüdi­ger Graf, An­dre­as Fol­kers, Ste­fan Ay­kut, Man­fred Lau­bich­ler, Mar­ti­na Heßler, Frank Uekötter, Bal­das­sa­re Sco­la­ri, Wer­ner Krauß, Sa­bi­ne Hof­meis­ter, Oli­ver Leis­tert, Ste­fan Wil­ler, Da­ni­el Lang, Lisa Cronjäger, Es­ther Mey­er, Ma­ria de Eguia Hu­er­ta.

Or­ga­ni­siert von Cor­ne­li­us Borck, Chris­toph Reh­mann-Sut­ter, Chris­ti­na Schües (In­sti­tut für Me­di­zin­ge­schich­te und Wis­sen­schafts­for­schung IMGWF, Uni­ver­sität zu Lübeck), Gre­gor Schmieg und Isa­bell Schri­ckel (Cen­ter for Glo­bal Sustaina­bi­li­ty and Cul­tu­ral Trans­for­ma­ti­on, Leu­pha­na Uni­ver­sität Lüne­burg).

Die Ver­an­stal­tung be­ginnt am 26.2.2019 um 14 Uhr und en­det am 27.2. um 14 Uhr.

Der Work­shop ist öffent­lich. Aus Platz­gründen wird um An­mel­dung ge­be­ten (schri­ckel@leu­pha­na.de).

WORKSHOP ON THE INTRICACIES OF PLANNING, GOVERNANCE, AND FINANCE WITH ÉRIK BORDELEAU (senselab/ECSA)

On the 4th of February 2019, CCP‘s cultural theory wing had organized a small workshop on the intricacies of planning, governance and finance. Consultant Érik Bordeleau, member of the Berlin-based Start-Up ECSA (Economic Space Agency) and the Montréal-based research consortium sense lab (senselab.ca) introduced the participants to his recent research into the social logic of finance, governance and planning with a deep dive into cultural theory, blockchain parlance, speculative philosophy and economics.

The workshop entitled „50 Shades of a Network Derivative“ introduced the participants to the complex relations of time, finance and risk.

Taking crypto-economics as a starting point, it became evident that programability has returned as a hot topic in planning and governance. But this time the return of fantasies of control encloses sovereignties of small kingdoms, such as cryptocurrencies. „We can now all program our own small kingdoms“ says Bordeleau. The invention of value as a parameter of programming introduced a missing link into the networked cultures of today.

During the workshop the participants, comprised of CCP members and students from Leuphana, discussed theoretical statements and quotes taken from a large variety of literature that Bordeleau had pooled before.

The workshop was organized by the project ‘Complexity or Control? Paradigms for Sustainable Development (CCP)’, Leuphana University Lüneburg and Arizona State University, which is funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung and the Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur.

FIRST INTERNATIONAL AGENDA SETTING WORKSHOP ON SUSTAINABILITY; TRANSDISCIPLINARY; AND INTERCULTURALITY ORGANIZED AT LEUPHANA UNIVERSITY LUENEBURG BY CCP

September 11^th, 12^th and 13^th 2018

From the evening of the 11^th September 2018 to 13^th September 2018 the Agenda Setting Workshop – Transdisciplinary Research and Sustainability within an Intercultural Orientation took place at the Leuphana University Lüneburg. The workshop was organized by the project ‘Complexity or Control? Paradigms for Sustainable Development (CCP)’, Leuphana University Lüneburg and Arizona State University, which is funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung and the Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur.

The workshop aimed at creating a space for joint exploration of ways of understanding and transforming transdisciplinary research and sustainability. The rationale behind this event was to challenge a westernized perspective of researchers and policy makers. Therefore, a very heterogenous group of people in terms of knowledge(s) area(s), methodologies, (work-) cultures and place of origin(s), amongst others, was invited to jointly explore concepts, perspectives and methodologies as well as possible forms of collaborative research work in the future.

The 22 participants came from 12 countries, including Mexico, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, Nepal or Kenia. The workshop benefited from the Td Summer School 2018 [link], which took part the previous week and which offered 15 scholarships for participants from the Global South. Some of them took part in the workshop as a side event of the Td Summer School.

Beyond sharing and developing a culturally sensitive look to transdiciplinarity research and sustainability, the workshop ended with concrete agreements on working steps for the formed working groups. These will conceptually and methodologically explore transdisciplinarity, sustainability and interculturality in established collaborative formations that shall be further strengthened and accompanied by CCP the coming months.

WORKSHOP ON TD RESEARCH AND SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN AN INTERCULTURAL ORIENTATION & TD SUMMER SCHOOL 2018

September 2-11, 2018

Concept & organization: Ulli Vilsmaier, Maria de Eguia Huerta and Bianca Vienni

Leuphana University of Lüneburg is pleased to invite you to the 6th Td Summer School in Lüneburg, Germany in September. As a follow up of the ITD Conference 2017 (www.leuphana.de/itd-conference-2017) this year’s Td Summer School is focussing on transdisciplinary research at the science | society inteface within an intercultural orientation. It takes place at Leuphana University from September 2-11, 2018 (Td Training Module: Sep 2-7, Special Training Module: Sep 10-11).

As a side event we will run a workshop on transdisciplinary research and sustainability from Sep 11-13. The aim is to develop an agenda for continuous collaborative research between different world regions to further develop epistemological and methodological foundations and practices of transdisciplinary research and sustainability.

For more information see: www.leuphana.de/td-training

WORKSHOP THINKING THE PROBLEMATIC

June 22-23, 2017

Concept & organization: Erich Hörl, Oliver Leistert & Martin Savransky

The figure of the problematic continues to resurface and to haunt both epistemologies and ontologies. From its inception in French historical epistemology it transverses any distinctive division of thoughts and concepts. Our workshop engages in a two day discussion on the contemporary presence of the figure of the problematic and asks how to accept the obligations its decentering forces offer.

With: Didier Debaise, Thomas Ebke, Craig Lundy, Celia Lury, Patrice Maniglier, Esther Meyer, Dimitris Papadopoulos, Isabell Schrickel, Jean-Baptiste Vuillerod.

Poster here.

THE PARIS AGREEMENT – EINE LESUNG

April, 1 2017

A public reading performance of the Paris Agreement with citizens of Lüneburg, venue: Museum Lüneburg

Concept & organization: Esther Meyer, Isabell Schrickel

Guest: Birgit Schneider (Universität Potsdam)

TRAVELLING CODES – CIRCULATION AND ADAPTATION OF MODELS, DATA, AND STANDARDS IN COMPUTER-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

March, 30-31 2017

International Workshop of the MECS Institute for Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation and the Center for Global Sustainability and Cultural Transformation (CCP|CGSC) at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany.

Concept & organization: Gabriele Gramelsberger, Martin Mahony, Isabell Schrickel

Review by Fabrizio Li Vigni.

SUSTAINABILITY LECTURE:  HOW TO APPROACH THE HISTORY OF SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE?

With Manfred Laubichler and the CCP team.

June 22, 2016, 6pm, Leuphana Campus, Lecture Hall 4

Followed by the inauguration of the Center for Global Sustainability and Cultural Transformation (CGSC) offices and a presentation of CGSC activities.
Prof. Manfred D. Laubichler is Adjunct Professor at Leuphana, President’s Professor of Theoretical Biology and History of Biology at Arizona State University and a Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His research interests include the theory of complex adaptive systems, innovations in biology, society and technology and the conceptual and historical foundations of science. Laubichler will discuss sustainability from a history of science perspective, particularly with regard to computational methods and their application in the project Complexity or Control? Paradigms for Sustainable Development (CCP).

During the lecture, you have a chance to meet the team of CCP and learn about their goals and first insights. Sponsored by Volkswagen Stiftung and a joint effort between the Center for Methods, the Faculty of Sustainability, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Arizona State University, the project aims to consolidate epistemological and methodological foundations of transdisciplinary sustainability science. Through computational methods of history of science, the CCP team analyzes the interwoven stories of cybernetics, complexity theories and sustainability. CCP is part of the CGSC.

The Joint Center for Global Sustainability and Cultural Transformation (CGSC) further advances the longstanding collaboration between Leuphana and Arizona State. CGSC aims to build additional capacity at Leuphana to bridge the divide between (1) modeling and understanding of complex sustainability problems, (2) and developing and evaluating contextualized solution efforts. As an agenda for a future cluster of excellence, CGSC supports interdisciplinary collaboration across the two approaches and academic communities while building on disciplinary excellence.

Contact: Prof. Daniel Lang, Ina Dubberke

ORAL HISTORY WORKSHOP – HOW EDUCATION MADE COMPUTERS PERSONAL

June 7, 2016, Leuphana Campus, Lecture Hall 1

Concept & organization: Jeremias Herberg

Since the 1960s California’s Counterculturalists considered both computers and education as tools for change. They lamented how computers are “used to control people instead of to free them” and created educational and technological visions “to change all that” (Peoples Computer Company 1972). They came up with community memories, personal computers and virtual communities. Computer technologies, by being modeled after educational aspirations, became personal and social.

At the Oral History Workshop, some of the Californian Counterculturalists most involved in the history of computers meet young media theorists and scholars in Science and Technology Studies to revise a techno-determinist genealogy of computers and education. Together they reflect the limits and benefits of reviving alternative computer pedagogies within our digital cultures. As contemporary witnesses we invited Lee Felsenstein, Liza Loop and Howard Rheingold. As scholars, Clemens Apprich (DCRL), Paula Bialski (DCRL), Jérémy Grosman (Université de Namur), Christina Vagt (HU Berlin) and Jeremias Herberg (CCP) will provide historical contexts, or act as respondents in dialogue with the contemporary witnesses.

The event is relevant for everybody interested in countercultural movements, computer technology, computer education, computers and communities, or the broader history of neoliberalism. These arguably are the major connecting lines between sustainability and cybernetics. They thus represent excellent starting points for the reflexive approaches to sustainability that the CCP-team wants to instigate!

The workshop is a collaboration of CCP and the Virtual Museum on the History of Computers in Learning and Education, hosted by LO*OP Center. The latter organization brought computers in schools as early as 1975, years before the first marketable Personal Computers.

PARTICIPATE:
Read the concept paper.
Post questions to: LLOHW@hcle.org or on the facebook event page