Type IV culture or, is it possible to define a framework for universal creativity?

ABSTRACT

The radical limit of post-anthropocentric creativity is a mode of completely nonhuman creative endeavour. Yet, the anthropocentrism prevails and conceptions of radically different civilisations and cultures are defined by current human thought that shapes and limits the understanding of what a genuinely alternative cultural production might entail. This article uses the Kardashev scale of civilisations, classified according to energy consumption at the planetary, stellar and galactic scales to consider culture beyond the current limits of an inherently anthropocentric perspective. In considering microdimensional, informational and universal extensions of Kardashev's scale, critical reflections on the anthropocentric limits of cultural epistemology create an opportunity to posit a universal framework of creativity.

KEYWORDS:

• Creativity
• culture
• epistemology
• extraterrestrials
• Kardashev

Notes on the contributor

Garfield Benjamin is a cultural theorist and digital artist who has recently completed a PhD in Digital Technology Theory and Practice at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. His thesis, entitled ‘The Cyborg Subject: Parallax Realities, Functions of Consciousness and the Void of Subjectivity’ is concerned with the construction and limits of consciousness across physical and digital reality in creative media. His own art practice, spanning computer-generated images, sound and animation, augmented reality, interactive games and avatar mediation, has been exhibited internationally. He writes on psychoanalysis, radical digital art, quantum physics, computer games and science fiction.