LIFE: A Transdisciplinary Inquiry

by Jeremy Swartz (Editor), Janet Wasko (Editor)

Overview

An exploration of life through a transdisciplinary lens.

LIFE: A Transdisciplinary Inquiry explores life through the lenses of relationships among communication, nature, and society. The contributors, who come from the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, investigate everyday life and expand upon an integrative account of media as environments and technologies. By including collaborations from internationally known scholars from the physical sciences, life sciences, cognitive sciences, and the arts, LIFE addresses issues from a transdisciplinary perspective, emphasizing how information and communication are instrumental in and for living systems.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789387926
Publisher:	Intellect, Limited
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jeremy Swartz is the founder of Metamedia @ UofO, courtesy research associate in media studies at the University of Oregon, and adjunct assistant professor in communication at Southern Oregon University. 


Janet Wasko is a professor in media studies and emeritus Knight Chair in Communication Research at the University of Oregon. 

Table of Contents

Preface to a Trilogy

Introduction

Genealogy
1. ‘Life, Nature and Systems’, Fritjof Capra
2. ‘What is Life?’, Mark A. Bedau
3. ‘Why Life Cannot Be Defined’, Carol E. Cleland

Information and Ecologies
4. ‘Propagating Organization: An Enquiry’, Stuart Kauffman, Robert K. Logan, Robert Este, Randy Goebel, David Hobill and Ilya Shmulevich
5. ‘Friends, Neighbours and Enemies: An Overview of the Communal and Social Biology of Plants’, Roza D. Bilas, Amanda Bretman and Tom Bennett
6. ‘The Conceptual Ecology of the Human Microbiome’, Nicolae Morar and Brendan J. M. Bohannan

Enactions and Values
7. ‘From Life to Mind’, Mark L. Johnson
8. ‘Metabolism and Drift’, Thomas Nail
9. ‘From ALife to No Life: On Mediatic Contexts of Life and Death’, Jussi Parikka

Ecomediations and Education
10. ‘Media and Information Literacies for a Living World: Engaging with a Cyberist Era’, Divina Frau-Meigs
11. ‘Journalistic Learning and Intentional Teaching with Technologies: STEM and Rural Communities’, Ed Madison
12. ‘Dirtying Ecocinema Studies’, Salma Monani and Stephen Rust

Syntheses and Biodesigning
13. ‘System Dynamics, Machine Learning and Structural Validation’, William A. Schoenberg and Jeremy Swartz
14. ‘Life from the Edge of Synthetic Biology’, Pier Luigi Luisi
15. ‘Templating Life: DNA as Nature’s Hard Drive, Version 2.0’, Mél Hogan and Tessa J. Brown

Artful Lives and Metaliving
16. ‘Aqueous Mediums, Urban Architectures, Anadromous Being’, Brook Muller
17. ‘Satoyama and the Art of Rural Regeneration’, Diane Durston
18. ‘Metaliving’, Jeremy Swartz

Appendix: Exhibition • Experience • Nature

Notes on Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Extending perspectives from media and communication research into life sciences, this second collection in the transdisciplinary series both widens and deepens the reader’s understanding of information as, at once, a material and a symbolic phenomenon."

University of Copenhagen Klaus Bruhn Jensen

"The editors ask us to zoom both in and out to see how we consider life itself, with eye-opening implications for understanding communication and its possibilities. As biofabrication and artificial intelligence become entwined with human existence, the questions are urgent, timely and fascinating."

University of North Dakota Lana F. Rakow

"Undertaking an ambitious intellectual journey, this volume traverses realms of material cultures and lifeworlds, ecologies and symbolic systems, ethics and being. It delves into our deeply mediated world that is nonetheless embedded in nature and embodied in life forms large and small, while addressing some of the most meaningful and existential questions facing humanity, the planet and beyond."

National University of Singapore Jack Linchuan Qiu

"In the early 21st century, a philosophy of openness marks, embraces and encourages exploration, collaboration and synthesis across traditional boundaries. This journey encourages us to rethink our relationship with the natural world and challenges us to see life as an intricate dance of interactions, transactions and contexts."

Tsinghua University Changfeng Chen

"Tolle Lege — though rarely apropos, this stunning book meets the criteria. Destined to be a classic, it revolutionizes communication studies. The impressibility of life systems is imagined globally through sophisticated research. Instead of marginalia and augmented scholasticism, these profound essays teach us innovation and gravitas."

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Clifford G. Christians