​**HYBRID IN-PERSON / ONLINE**

​What would happen if a political system treated human behavior as something to be measured, predicted, and engineered?

​Could that logic turn people into a homogeneous mass of optimized human-machines?

​This month, Cybersentics Book Club meets in person and online to discuss an essay by Danielle Carr on the rise of cognitivism—the idea that the mind works through internal processes such as thought, memory, and language.

​Carr argues that cognitivism overtook behaviorism as psychology’s dominant theory partly because of “cognitive liberalism,” an early Cold War philosophy that located human freedom in our capacity for spontaneous thought and language.

​The essay also examines how Hannah Arendt framed totalitarianism as a form of behaviorist control, connecting Cold War opposition to behaviorism with earlier critiques of industrial labor and the treatment of people as systems to be managed and optimized.

​This Month’s Reading:
Carr, D. J. Z. (2020). ‘Ghastly marionettes’ and the political metaphysics of cognitive liberalism: Anti-behaviourism, language, and the origins of totalitarianism. History of the Human Sciences, 33(1), 147-174.

​Access Reading
Also Included with RSVP: You’ll receive the reading link in your confirmation email.

​About Danielle Carr:
Danielle Carr is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Society and Genetics at UCLA. Trained as an anthropologist and historian of neuroscience, her work brings together the critical study of the brain and mind sciences in the twentieth century with the history of politics. Her current book project is a political history of neural engineering in the twentieth century, focusing on the development of Deep Brain Stimulation for psychiatric disorders.

​About the Cybersentics Book Club:

​Gray Area is pleased to host a new reading group, the Cybersentics Book Club that will explore the human sensorium through the lens of art and technology.

​In the first cycle, Cybersentic's reading list will center key themes related to the bidirectional flow of information between bodies and the environment. The outward perspective examines biofeedback, while the inward perspective focuses on cyborg art.

​This book club is a fit for artists, makers, researchers, scholars, engineers, and anyone curious about the integration of technology and art. Join us as we investigate how to enhance our sensory experiences, from biofeedback and sonification to embedding sensors that challenge our perceptions.

​Our group's purpose is to cultivate a welcoming community that fosters knowledge-sharing and collaboration. Whether you're seeking to connect with potential collaborators, look for answers to pressing questions, gain critical insights, or engage in peer learning, this is the place for you!

​Cybersentics is organized and led by Gray Area Research Fellow Anastasia Chernysheva as part of the Biofeedback Art|Research Network (BARN).

​Accessibility:

​All ages welcome. A high school reading level or above is recommended.

​Hybrid event
In-person meeting hosted upstairs in the Gray Area Incubator, not wheelchair or mobility accessible.
Online Zoom link provided upon RSVP.

​View our FAQ page for more info, or contact us at info@grayarea.org with any accommodation requests.