CFP – Edited Volume - abstract deadline August 20, 2023

Two of the respective founders of Vital Thought and Digital Void, Emiy Gillcrist and Jamie Cohen, are assembling an Edited Volume for publication with Routledge. Essay topics will include social analysis and theory of media, tech, and climate.

Working Title: Tech and A Living World: Media, Innovation, and Sustainable Futures

“Human rights are inherent and universal, attaching to all humans equally by virtue of their humanity alone. They are inalienable in the sense that they cannot be given or taken away, or bought or sold, nor do they depend on one’s willingness or ability to pay. Human rights are not limited by commercial interests or economic incentives. Rather, they are primordial, coming before the market.” Elizabeth M. Renieris, Beyond Data, 2023

“What evaporates is agency and ownership: most of your emails, photos, status updates, business documents, library and voting data, health records, credit ratings, likes, memories, experiences, personal preferences and unspoken desires are in the cloud, on somebody else’s infrastructure...The cloud is a power relationship, and most people are not on top of it.” - James Bridle, New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future, 2018

We are seeking interdisciplinary essays featuring ethical and strategic perspectives related to media, tech, and the climate crisis. We are particularly interested in topics that highlight the material, ethical, psychological, and political connections between these phenomena.

With the recent expansion and increasing organization of “responsible tech” as an industry involving government, marketing, corporate strategy, philanthropy, and academia we seek to compile a volume that provides a unique contribution to this diverse and growing cross-disciplinary and cross-industry field.

Work in this field is often focused on the problem of democracy, but rarely are any organizations or companies truly contending with the causes of tech’s disruption of democracy, much less what it will take to resolve it. As such, the climate question is usually conspicuously absent, tech solutions are often greenwashed, economic inequality is ignored, and geopolitical relations are oversimplified.

We are calling for essays that address the human and existential stakes of the tech and media explosion, particularly with respect to violence, democracy, culture, automation, psychology, biology, health, well-being, and sustainability as well as economic strategy, urban planning, regulation, creativity, and social adaptation.

We invite potential contributors to submit original abstracts of approximately 300-500 words. Selected chapter contributors are expected to write a chapter in the 5000-7,000 word range. There are a wide variety of potential topics. We welcome articles crossing or combining insights from across humanities, social sciences, as well as industry, government, and nonprofit sectors. Topics can draw from metaphysics, ontology, academic humanities, market research, political and social research, neuroscience and biology, as well as cognitive and psychoanalytic sciences, and art/ aesthetics/ media studies.  

Possible topics include, but not limited to:

Degrowth, limits to growth, postgrowth

Cognitive function, neuroscience, health, tech/ climate

Philosophy, metaphysics, ontology

Consciousness studies

Digital Culture, visual culture, art, media, aesthetics

Inequities, migration, geography

Sustainability and unsustainability

Identity, diversity, culture, community

Chapters should be scholarly yet intelligible to non-specialists and laymen. Please submit abstracts by August 20, 2023 via email to info@vitalthought.org. Potential contributors will receive notification of acceptance by Sept 15, 2023. If your abstract is selected, full chapter drafts will be expected by January 5, 2023. 

Questions? Contact Emily Gillcrist at info@vitalthought.org