On globes, the Earth and the Cybernetics of Grace

Westermann, Claudia ORCID: 0000-0001-7853-6014 (2021) On globes, the Earth and the Cybernetics of Grace. TECHNOETIC ARTS, 19 (1-2). pp. 29-47.

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Abstract

<jats:p>The article presents an enquiry into conceptions of ‘global’ that began at the American Society for Cybernetics 2020 <jats:italic>Global Conversation</jats:italic> conference. Following the traces of Margaret Mead’s statement that emphasized that the first photographic images of the Earth from space presented notions of fragility, the article contextualizes the recent critique of the dominant representation of the Earth as a globe that emerged in conjunction with the discourse on the Anthropocene. It analyses the globe as an image and the sentiments that accompanied it since the first photographs of our planet from space were published in 1968. The article outlines how the cultural meaning of the whole Earth representation changed in parallel with the appropriation of the image by the large technological enterprises that emerged from America’s counterculture. It returns to the possibility of a coexistence of ‘views from within’ and ‘views from without’ following a detour with Gregory Bateson via Bali and proposes a Cybernetics of Grace as a practice of resistance against pure exteriority. The article concludes by linking the Cybernetics of Grace with the second-order conversations of Gordon Pask.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	second-order, cybernetics, conversation, art, Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, Gordon Pask
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of the Arts
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	31 May 2022 14:30
Last Modified:	26 Jun 2023 03:03
DOI:	10.1386/tear_00049_1
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3155639