About this Episode
In this introductory video to Chapter 2 of Scripting for Agency, we explore the question: What is the shape of a thinking thing? Drawing comparisons to scientific models, such as have existed for atoms or the Earth, this episode highlights how intuitive diagrams and conceptual “shapes” influence the way we think about selves, agents, and identity. Through historical examples, contemporary thought, and an original drawing study on lay theories of selfhood, this section sets the stage for a deeper investigation into models of the self—starting with the vessel, then the distributed self, and finally, a string theory of self.
About this Series
Scripting for Agency: An Artistic Enquiry into Selfhood, Character and Agency in the Age of AI is a video lecture series based on Dr Katarina Ranković’s practice-based PhD in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. Combining philosophy, performance, creative writing, and AI theory, the series explores how our understanding of the self shapes our personal lives, our politics, and our relationship to intelligent technologies.
Links
Series Playlist: https://bit.ly/sfa-series
PhD thesis (PDF format): https://bit.ly/sfa-pdf
Thesis artworks: https://bit.ly/sfa-art
Diagramming the Self: Deriving Lay Theories of Self from Drawings: https://katarinarankovic.art/scripting-for-agency-appendix-3.
References
- Cavarero, Adriana. Inclinations: A Critique of Rectitude. Translated by Amanda Minervini and Adam Sitze. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016.
- Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Vintage, 1994.
- Kuhn, Thomas S., and Ian Hacking. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.
- Ocasio, William. “Attention to Attention.” Organization Science 22, no. 5 (2011): 1286–1296.
- Piaget, Jean. Structuralism. Translated by Chaninah Maschler. New York: Psychology Press, 2015.
- Ranković, Katarina. “Diagramming the Self: Deriving Lay Theories of Selfhood from Drawings.” 2023. Experimental Report 3/4. https://katarinarankovic.art/scripting-for-agency-appendix-3.
- Stover, Christopher, and Eric W. Weisstein. “Line.” MathWorld—A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Line.html.