English Professor Colin Milburn of the University of California, Davis, will deliver the next lecture in the 2009-2010 Research Seminar Series presented by York’s Science & Technology Studies (STS) Program tomorrow.
Milburn will present “At Play in the City of the Future: Nanocity and the Semiotics of Speculative Science” Tuesday, March 2, from 12:30 to 2pm in Norman’s, 203A Bethune College, Keele campus.
Right: Colin Milburn
His research focuses on the cultural relations between literature, science and technology, and his interests include science fiction, gothic horror, the history of biology, the history of physics, nanotechnology, video games and post-humanism.
Milburn is a member of the UC Davis Science & Technology Studies program and is affiliated with the cultural studies, film studies and critical theory programs. He is also the author of Nanovision: Engineering the Future (Duke University Press, 2008).
The book looks at how the dawning era of nanotechnology promises to transform life as people currently know it and forever alter the way people think about technologies, societies, their bodies and even reality itself. Milburn argues that the rise of nanotechnology involves what he calls “nanovision”. Trekking across the technoscapes and the dreamscapes of nanotechnology, he elaborates a theory of nanovision, demonstrating that nanotechnology has depended throughout its history on a symbiotic relationship with science fiction.
The STS Program is co-housed in the Faculty of Science & Engineering and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. Financial support for this series has been provided by the Division of Natural Science, the Office of the Vice-President Academic & Provost and the York University Bookstore.
For more information, visit the Science & Technology Studies Web site or contact the Division of Natural Science at natsci@yorku.ca or ext. 55021.
This series is open to the public and refreshments will be served.