Beyond Identities: Human Becomings in Weirding Worlds

by Jim Dator

This book is an argument for moving beyond culturally/historically/ethnically/biologically-grounded identity as the necessary foundation of an authentic self. It highlights examples of people who are attempting to inhabit identities they feel are more appropriate to themselves, by deploring the damage done via claims about authentic identity. The sole theme of this book is “becoming beyond identity”. We are not fixed human beings but rather perpetually-dynamic human becomings. As intelligence is enabled or recognized beyond the merely human, we should welcome our continuing evolution from homosapiens, sapiens, into many varieties of intelligences on Earth and the cosmos. This book builds from tiny ripples into a tsunami of examples from conventional identity studies, to Confucian human becomings, to apotemnophilia, to DIY biohacking, to cyborgs, to artilects, to hiveminds, to intelligence in animals, plants and fungi from the Holocene through the beginnings of theprecarious, climate change-driven Anthropocene Epoch, with hints far beyond and throughout the cosmos. From a lifetime of work in future studies, anticipation science and space studies, the author balances frank tales of his own experiences and beliefs concerning his uncertain and fluid identities with those of others who tell their stories. In addition to material from academic and popular sources, a few poems further illuminate the scene.

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 31, 2022

Reviews

[Alireza Hejazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains Jim Dator’s futurist views of human and relevant cultural, historical, ethical, and biological identities. It contains his essays that originated from futures studies and are put together in a logical order to shape the chapters of this book. By studying this book, readers will be informed of the author’s thoughts and assumptions about the factors that affect our “identity,” including class, gender, race, place, and other features that define human identity in different ways. The author’s clever choice of human “becomings” instead of “becoming” points to the fact that human identity is not going to be limited to just one personality but may evolve into various identities over time as analyzed extensively in the book. This book may be useful to readers curious about what the future will hold for humans with their identities on this planet and perhaps other planets.