Hypertextethics as a Trans- and Posthumanistic Redemption to the Pathology of Unilinearity: A Pilot Project for Schools and Prisoners

ABSTRACT

The author of this paper is currently working on a pilot project with school children and individuals who are in their final years of their prison sentence. The project should offer a pragmatic alternative to the way humanism has established and defined our mode of expressions. Such modes effect our ways of deliberation and judgement when it comes to ethical issues. This paper will act both as a critique and provide, at the same time, a positive alternative to those who are still being coerced into confessing an act they committed in a language in which they do not only not recognise themselves but risk, moreover, not being understood. The likelihood of this occurring stems from a fundamental disconnect, namely the fact that their way of communicating does not chime in with the expectations of the knowledgeable others whose formal speech registers betray deeply-ingrained oppressive humanist modes of discourse and ideologies which, having long been normalized are, to the former’s detriment, regrettably and routinely overlooked. The aim of this paper is to introduce my project in order to show the reader that many of the postmodern critiques of narrative and agent formation can be overcome by a cybernetic system of a new mode of writing, by means of which the intentions of the agent are fragmented and reconstructed immediately by a secondary, non-human agent – the software. I shall be making a case that this software will become vital to mediate human storytelling through non- human generation creating an enhanced understanding for both reader and writer.

KEYWORDS:

• Unilinearity
• hypertextethics
• posthumanism
• transhumanism
• justice
• freedom of speech

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Mr Charles Mifsud, co-founder and chairperson of Rise Foundation (Malta) and Mr. Matthew Degiorgio administrator and education officer at the foundation for their encouragement and belief that this pilot project will positively affect our young learners and the vulnerable.

It is only thanks to Dr Spina, Head of Department within the faculty of ICT (Department of Computer Science) at the University of Malta, that my concept of this software has seen the light of day. We have been collaborating on this project for the last five years in order improve the software’s functionality, making it user-friendly for all school learners and the rest of the public including people who are nearing the end of their prison sentence.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. My critique of unilinearity does not address such subjects. All is well (maybe) with the sciences and with mathematics’ logicality. I am not much versed in such fields, so I leave it to the experts in these disciplines to explore the cybernetic nature of unilinearity.

2. Lyotard denounces a theory founded on a consensus by those who are able to formalize discourse that fits the institutional setup such as the courts of law. Lyotard maintains that this hegemonic setup of reality will inevitably bring about the annihilation of particularistic desires and is more inclined to acknowledge the heterogeneity of language games. See (Lyotard [1979] 1984, xix), and (Dahms 1992, 497).

3. As a Maltese national I sometimes find it hard to determine which side of the world is my place. Where do I belong? Shall I consider myself a European in political and cultural terms, and turn my back on those unlucky ones who are dying while attempting to establish a better life in Europe, or should I consider myself African, as I too speak a Semitic language and share much of the culture of the North African countries? Quo Vadis with this unilinear march that is generated by a unilinear discursive cybernetic?

4. I am here applying Habermas’ notion of discourse ethics to mean the process of doing ethics (Edgar 2006, 45). I am however, dissociating myself from the discourse ethics of the Habermas style.

5. This could also be the case with psychoanalysis as the story that is finally constructed will not harmonize with the agent undergoing therapy.