Communication 797S - ST- Speculative Media Studies

What if we took the phrase "digital native" literally? Beyond people who have never not known the internet, would we also have to consider that simple statistics suggest it is much more likely than not that we are all living in a computer simulation? Would we have to ponder the relative subjectivities of everyday objects, from our phones to our transportation systems? More immediately, would we be thinking in terms of science fiction or contemporary media theory? After all, both are engaged in considerations of the practices and the implications of constantly changing social and technological conditions. Both are therefore also engaged in imagining possible futures. Samuel Delany once proposed that science fiction is better thought of not as a corpus of similar texts, but rather as a specific protocol for reading any text. He argued that what science fiction offers is a necessarily open, imaginative, ultimately hopeful engagement with media's potential and that of the world. This course begins by asking, what if we take the protocols of reading science fiction seriously as a means of engaging with contemporary media practices and as a means of reading contemporary media studies? Through readings and screenings from 20th and 21st century media, science fiction, and a variety of recent publications in media studies - considering topics from post-cinema, virtual reality, and the shadow economies of media to post-humanism, object-oriented ontology, and event-symmetric space-time - we will explore various engagements, performances, and interventions toward understanding the sensational, intellectual, satirical, and social potential of imagining unknown futures.