Today's digital technologies of inscription and preservation have \;enabled the creation of substantial electronic archives and complex \;databases while ushering in new ways of archiving knowledge exemplified by \;collaborative encyclopedias. Such technical developments have \;foreshadowed a radical reconfiguration of human relations to the world and \;knowledge at large\, and delineate a probable mutation in our \;understanding of the human subject.
\nHypermnesia\, a recurrent motif in science fiction narratives\, was \;already prefigured in H. G. Wells' (World Brain\, 1937) or Borges' works \;("Funes el memorioso\," 1944). From then on\, the notion has migrated into \;other literary genres\, be they published in traditional print or in a \;digital medium. Similarly\, the possible externalization and extension of \;memory is one of the cornerstones of contemporary philosophical theories \;(such as that of the "extended mind") on both sides of the border \;separating the analytical and continental schools of philosophy.
Right after the Second World War\, machine memory\, the thematization of \;subjective memory in reference to computer memory\, the potential \;alteration of the very nature of human memory due to the development of \;machines were recurrent issues in discussions pertaining to cybernetics \;and they are still vivid in the contemporary diagnosis of posthumanism.
Of particular interest is the scope and typology of works featuring the \;theme of hypermnesia\, from fantasies of omnipotence to rewritings of the \;Babel myth\, to political\, cultural and economic policy blueprints. This \;call for papers invites contributions from various fields and \;disciplines (the history of science and technology\, literature\, \;philosophy among others) which question the theme of hypermnesia and \;memory through the prism of the ambiguous relationship between man and \;machine\, in a historical as well as in a more contemporary perspective.
At the crossroads of philosophy\, literature and the history of science and \;technology\, this symposium is part of a broader long-term project focusing \;on the digital subject\, a subject whose status and attributes appear to \;have been altered by the real or fictional development of digital \;calculating machines from Babbage to Internet.
The working languages will be French and English. This symposium has \;received the support of the LABEX Arts-H2H scientific \;committee.
Comité\; scientifique / Scientific committee :
Yves Abrioux (Université\; Paris 8)
Noelle Batt (Université\; Paris 8)
Maarten Bullynck (Université\; Paris 8)
Pierre Cassou-Noguè\;s (Université\; Paris 8)
Claire Larsonneur (Université\; Paris 8)
Hé\;lè\;ne Machinal (Université\; de Brest)
Arnaud Regnauld (Université\; Paris 8)
Mathieu Triclot (Université\; de Technologie de Belfort-Montbé\;liard)
Contact: \;pierre.cassou-nogues@univ-lille3.fr