The phenomenon of the posthuman in the paradigm of modern culture

Shchavleva Aleksandra Sergeevna Shсhavleva Aleksandra Sergeevna, postgraduate student of the Department of Cultural Studies and Philosophy of the Perm State Institute of Culture 614000, Russia, Perm Krai, Perm, Gazeta str., 18 a.mantova@yandex.ru

Technology is transforming human life at a faster pace than ever before. The convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics, information and communication technologies creates a new situation in which a person becomes a design project.  Thanks to the development of NBIX technologies, people today are able to redesign themselves in order to get rid of various limitations. Posthumanism is one of the recent and notable manifestations of this phenomenon, which, going beyond humanism, suggests reconsidering and rethinking what it means to be human.

At the same time, a meaningful discussion about the development of posthumanism requires understanding and defining the boundaries of this concept. It is worth noting that the analysis of posthumanism is not synonymous with the history of technology and medical improvements of the human body. Of course, technological changes have become a central link in modern posthuman studies. Indeed, posthumanism implies an emergent leap from some current status of a person to a future characteristic of a posthuman.

The most important condition of posthumanism is its critical position in relation to the idea that humans are the highest biological species. The prevailing concept of the human being is called into question when thinking about human involvement in technology and its interaction with them.

It seems problematic to define the historical framework of the post-Hougmanist movement. A number of researchers suggest that "the history of posthumanism has no obvious beginning, middle or end point in philosophical thought" (Miah), on the contrary, Stefan Herbrechter believes that "posthumanism is a reaction to the reassessment of Nietzsche's values." In turn, Pramod K. Nayyar finds the origins of posthumanism in three critical analyses of humanism: "M. Foucault's poststructuralism, feminism and research in the field of technoscience" ^{[1, p. 14]}.

To a greater extent, posthumanism is associated with postmodern philosophy, cultural studies, research in science and technology, poststructuralism and feminism. In this context, posthumanism appears as a critical discourse of the ideas of humanism.

It is widely believed that the term posthumanism was coined by the postmodern philosopher Ihab Hassan, "first we need to understand that the human form, including human desire and all its external representations, can change radically and, therefore, must be revised. We need to understand that five hundred years of humanism may be coming to an end, as humanism is being transformed into something that we should helplessly call posthumanism" ^{[2, p. 843]}.

The origins of what can be called posthumanism are revealed by Judith Halberstam and Ira Livingston in the work "Posthuman Bodies". Philosophers propose the idea of understanding posthumanism based on cultural manifestations of moral views on technology. Halberstam and Livingston emphasize that their goal is to solve the problems of consistency of the human body. At the same time, the authors adhere to the idea that there is no consistency in human existence and, perhaps, there is no basis for appealing to the definition of human essence or the general form of human dignity. In addition, the posthuman under discussion does not refer to some subsequent state of human development, but to its disintegration into sub-, inter-, trans-, pre-, anti-. The authors note that the posthuman does not require the obsolescence of the human, it does not represent the evolution or devolution of man.

Rather, the posthuman participates in the redistribution of differences and identity, which finds visual embodiment in the genre of bodily horror, which describes the distortion of the integrity of the human subject and the violation of its boundaries (Crimes of the Future, 2022).

The discourse of cultural posthumanism not only revealed the paradoxes of the postmodern state, because "the end of Man must be written in the language of Man," as Jacques Derrida put it, but also called for a more inclusive, just and egalitarian world in which people have less control, recognizing the fallacy of human knowledge and raising oppressive cultural boundaries ^{[3, p. 713]}.

If we proceed from the assumption that a person is dead, then the human body must be reinterpreted by philosophers and cultural scientists. Posthumanism marks not the literal end of a person, but the end of a certain image of a person, in which the biological nature of a person can remain unchanged, but the feeling of oneself in the diversity of the surrounding world changes.

In turn, writers and artists began to theorize the problems of the emergence of posthuman bodies and topics that reveal the causes and consequences of postmodern relations of power and pleasure, virtuality and reality, where the prevailing concept of a human being is questioned when understanding human involvement in technology and its interaction with them.  Today, mass media discourse suggests using alternative environments (virtual games, interactive and immersive environments, augmented reality, metaverse) with a variety of descriptive images: images of a cyborg, transhuman, prosthetic being, posthuman, avatar, aimed at expanding human cognition, mobility and feelings, embodying the idea of virtuality as a constructed identity. "The posthuman body is a technology, a screen, a projected image; it is an AIDS body, an infected body, a deadly body, a techno body; it is, as we will see, a strange body. The human body itself is no longer part of the "human family", but a zoo of posthuman beings" ^{[4, p. 3]}.

Thus, posthumanism blurs the boundaries between animals, humans and machines, thereby destroying traditional boundaries, hierarchy and dichotomy, introducing new relationships between humans and machines, as well as between humans and animals. Posthumanism proposes a radical deconstruction of the "human" and considers alternative forms of human embodiment, including the expansion of human potential in the digital environment, as well as merging with technologies in which the human body appears more as a fashion accessory than as the basis of existence.

One of the most significant posthumanists is N. Catherine Hales, who discusses the consequences of converting bodies into information using digital technologies. For example, the digitization of social relations via the Internet is an example of a growing shift towards changing everyday practices. The culturologist explains how the boundaries of the body were violated and that our current era is characterized by the desire to get rid of the burden of the body by recreating it as information or non-matter. For Hales, posthumanism is characterized by a loss of subjectivity, which is based on the fact that bodies lose their boundaries ^[5]. Hales makes it clear that "posthuman" does not mean the end of humanity. It is not a question of "will we become posthuman" because "posthuman is already here." The question is, "what kind of posthumans will we be" ^{[5, p. 246]}.

Thus, it is possible to identify the features of the posthuman state: patterns of information are more essential to the state of being than any material instance; embodiment in a biological substrate is considered as an accident of history, not the inevitability of life; there is nothing immaterial; soul and consciousness are epiphenomenes; body is nothing but a prosthesis, and the exchange of this prosthesis On the other, it is simply an extension of this relationship; and a human being is capable of being seemingly articulated with intelligent machines.

In this sense, the posthumanism of N. Catherine Hales intersects with the views of Donna Haraway, who conceptualizes the concept of "cyborg" in a new way. Literally, "cyborg" is a combination of cybernetics and an organism used to describe a hybrid being that is a symbiosis of man and machine. Haraway presents the cyborg as "a subject of fiction and life experience that changes what is considered to be the experience of women at the end of the 20th century"^[6]. The author uses the cyborg metaphor to question such dualisms as mind/body, animal/human, organism/machine, culture/nature, man/woman, etc. Donna Haraway promotes the idea of a postgender world, questioning the human. Cyborgs were not based on the desire to improve humanity, but were aimed at destroying common ideas about what it means to be human, a change in subjectivity leads humanity to a situation where the question of the moral status of artificial life, the recognition of multiculturalism of living and inanimate nature is acute.

In popular culture, namely in cinema, the image of Lucy in the film Luc Besson (2014) very clearly reflects the image of a cyborg described by Donna Haraway. The image of a cyborg is becoming one of the most sought-after in science fiction and is visualized in films such as "Chimera" (2009), the acclaimed "Surrogates" (2009) and films in the cyberpunk genre. In these paintings, the focus is on a creature on the border of binaries, stories symbolizing the conviction that it is biological life that is preserved and matters, and not machines. The narrative is part of a recurring moral discourse about technology that argues that being alive or natural is good, and being mechanical or artificial is bad.

At the same time, the discourse of mass culture about the transformation of man and the emergence of machines is often filled with a narrative of fear and insecurity, which are designed to show the insecurity of humanity arising from the prospect of sharing control of the world with a living machine or cyborg. This rhetoric is embodied in the genre of steampunk fiction, where steam engines and other retro technologies have not disappeared, but have reached the highest development, the goal is to show the world of victorious trans- and posthumanism as a dystopia in which technological achievements are available only to a privileged group of people, while the rest of the majority lives in conditions of technological decline and dreams of immortality (TV series "Modified Carbon" (2018-2020), "Wild West World" (2016-2022); films "Elysium" (2013) "Excellence" (2014).

In this regard, posthumanist discourse raises one of the most important issues of finding a person's place in modern technoculture. Robert Pepperell, one of the researchers of the posthumanist approach, defines the posthuman state as "the end of the human-oriented universe." For a professor at Cardiff University, posthumanism means the end of humanism, namely, "a long-standing belief in the infallibility of human power and an arrogant belief in our superiority and uniqueness" ^{[7, 171]}. At the same time, the philosopher recognizes that this belief will continue to exist in the future. He predicts that humanism will eventually collapse due to its inherent moral weakness, marked by feminism, the animal rights movement, and anti-slavery movements, all of which expose the moral flaws of humanism.

Based on this, posthuman existence means that there is no boundary between bodily existence and computer modeling, cybernetic and biological mechanism "it would be a mistake to separate the thing that thinks and the thing that is thought of" ^{[7, 33]}.

Francis Fukuyama, in turn, attempts to characterize posthumanism by suggesting that "our posthuman future" will include the inevitable commercialization of biotechnological innovations that can lead to alarming human improvements. The significance of Fukuyama's vision of posthumanism is very significant, since his language further shapes the understanding of posthumanism as a future state of affairs in which the traditional person is no longer valued. He suggests that this inevitable commercialization will replace humans with a new kind of creature, and in turn, people with the current status will be devalued and their basic rights will be violated. Thus, Fukuyama explains that posthumanism is the absence of humanism, the violation of the most important moral boundaries. The philosopher appeals to the idea that people have an essence that can be distorted by too much technology, calling this essence the X factor. This X factor, which Fukuyama developed as a kind of human dignity, would be compromised by a permissive commercial environment in which medical improvements would appear. He points out that the policy of biotechnologies welcoming human improvements will weaken the moral force of human rights due to claims of chimeric, cybernetic or transgender organisms ^[8].

However, the history of posthumanism should not be considered the same as the history of transhumanism ^[9]. Although it could be determined that their common place is the emphasis on technology. At the same time, the theorists of each tradition put forward completely different value requirements related to the relationship between technology and man.

For the most part, post- and transhumanists position themselves as antagonists, despite their mutual involvement in similar issues and motives. The concepts of post- and transhumanism contribute to the revision of people's living conditions in the age of technology.

Transhumanism can be understood as a techno-optimistic discourse associated with bioliberal thinkers, bioethical engineers, computer scientists, and futurists. On the contrary, posthumanism is associated with postmodern philosophy and cultural studies.

While both concepts move beyond humanism, transhumanism is considered an enhancement of humanism, guided by faith in reason, individualism, science, technology, and progress. Posthumanists reject the humanistic belief that "man is the measure of all things" and that a dualistic approach to human beings is a suitable starting point for further research. According to posthumanists, humanism has lost its credibility and "a crisis of humanism is happening everywhere."

Nevertheless, these concepts are united by the fact that they consider the humanistic concept of "man" outdated, both physiologically and conceptually. In addition, post- and transhumanism consider the issue of human coevolution with technology using the "posthuman" motif, but understand it differently. For transhumanists, posthuman means a radically improved human being, whereas posthumanist philosophers use this term to refer to new conceptualizations of man that problematize metaphysical concepts of man.

The posthuman and transhuman body clearly shows how posthumanists deconstruct the human body as a cultural construct, opening up the "human" to alternative ways of embodiment (biological or non-biological), while transhumanists do not demonstrate full awareness of the historical and cultural determination of the body, considering it as a neutral bio (techno) body that can be customized at will individually.

Thus, the transition from the human state to the posthuman is seen as a human improvement project, which will eventually lead to the transformation of the human species from human to posthuman, where there is no separation between people and the things around them. In this regard, transhumanism is often considered as a process that will culminate in a posthuman existence and acquire the features of posthumanism.

Within the framework of the modern cultural environment, posthumanism offers a unique balance between free will, memory and imagination. Posthumanism adheres to a critical and deconstructive point of view based on the recognition of the past, while at the same time establishing a comprehensive and generative perspective to maintain and nurture alternatives for the present and the future. Within the framework of the modern cultural environment, posthumanism offers a unique balance between free will, memory and imagination. Thus, the posthumanist era creates a new aesthetic in art, cinema, literature, music and fashion, deconstructing existing canons and becoming mainstream.

Since the theory and practice of human improvement are an interdisciplinary field of research, there is a growing interest in the visualization of biosynthetic and virtual bodies in the field of media art and design.

So, modern artists, performers (Stelark, Eduardo Katz, Orlan, etc.), comprehend the issues of expanding the capabilities of the body, conducting experiments with it, thereby going beyond the boundaries of the human, relying on trance and posthumanistic thinking. The conceptual artist Stelark argues that the classical biological man is becoming outdated and "obsolete", thus the human body needs to be improved, and in this context he collaborates with engineers and scientists to find ways to improve it ^[10]. He is best known for creating an artificial ear from cultured cells and implanting it into his forearm. These practices are aimed at expanding the sensory experience and reality not only of the viewer, but also of the artist. 

In addition, at the last Paris Fashion Week, fashion scientists, exploring the junction of fashion and technology, presented their collections (Anrealage, Coperni, Miu Miu). The models were immersed in a fictional futuristic universe and interacted with robots. This practice is a vivid example of how the digital world affects the fashion industry, problematizing interactions between people and machines, considering the diversity of the cultural environment. Thus, focusing on the idea that Michel Foucault developed, arguing that man is a historical construct, the era of which will soon end: "new and old gods are already blowing up the Ocean of the future – man will soon disappear ... disappear like a face inscribed on coastal sand disappears" ^{[11, pp. 403-404]}, which today can be read as an opportunity for a person to acquire other networked forms of existence in the form of cybernetic organisms or even a digital disembodied entity.

It seems possible to assume that with the further development of NBIC technologies, artistic opportunities will expand in creating new practices for designing biosynthetic bodies, expanding sensory capabilities, cognitive enrichment, gender diversity, identity transfer and radical life extension.

Thus, today, observing the process of rethinking human existence, driven by the acceleration of scientific achievements and technological innovations, posthumanism positions itself as a new theoretical model of biological, mechanical and communication processes, which excludes a person from any particularly privileged status in relation to matter, meaning, information and cognition. Demystifying and deconstructing humanism, posthumanism criticizes dualistic ontologies such as nature/culture, mind/matter, subject/object, man/animal, and as a result leads to the destruction of traditional boundaries, hierarchies and dichotomies, as well as ideas about new relationships between humans and machines. The posthumanistic paradigm of thinking is based on the idea of human inclusivity, that is, a person is deprived of ontological privileges and integrated into a common continuum.

Mass culture, visualizing the new, amazing, effective world of posthumanism, presents a variety of images: the image of a cyborg, a transhuman, a prosthetic being, a posthuman, an avatar, in which all these forms of reality promise to replace a person. Based on this, the posthuman world is not a world without a person, but a world in which a person changes his status, where he moves from the center to the periphery. As a result, posthumanistic ideas have a profound impact on modern popular culture, in which the concept of human perfection can be considered as a process of adaptation to modern technologies, where the human body, mind and identity are constantly modified, presenting the possibility of "sculpting" the human form. 

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