CALL FOR PAPERS

Permeable Boundaries:
Technology and the Natural World

We invite individual papers and session proposals addressing the conference theme from all possible disciplinary angles, such as its representation in literature, the visual arts, political essays, or scientific and philosophical writings.

In addition to the conference theme, papers on all other aspects of the interaction of technology, science, and the humanities are welcome.

Today, the boundaries between nature and technology have blurred to such an extent that it is difficult to say where one ends and the other begins. This crossing of traditional boundaries brings with it a host of theoretical, technical, ethical, and political concerns:

• Are we, along with our natural habitat, becoming part of technology?

• Does technology have to be managed?  By whom?

• How do we distinguish between nature and artifice?  Is nature becoming more artificial, and technology more natural?

• How do the arts represent the intersection between technology and nature?

• What lies in the future for the figure of the cyborg and for the interface between humans and technology?

• How does technology affect the ecologies of place and the environment?

• How do environmentalists and engineers address these issues?

Please submit a one-page proposal (200 words) by April 1, 2002 to Andreas.Michel@rose-hulman.edu or write to:

Andreas Michel
HTA Conference Co-Chair
Humanities and Social Sciences
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
5500 Wabash Ave
Terre Haute, IN 47803