A Humanist Review of a Posthumanist Speculation

Abstract

Ron Wakkary’s book titled ‘Things We Could Design: For More Than HumanCentered Worlds’ is a posthumanist speculation of design practices, designed things, and designers. This is a Big Idea book in which Wakkary declares his “ambition to rethink design, wholly and imaginatively” (Wakkary 2021, p. 6) by moving away from humanism and towards posthumanism. Offered as a speculative response to ecological crises, Wakkary grounds his posthumanist arguments through design examples and scholarship primarily from Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design (IxD). Wakkary launches his work arguing that “to limit design to its origins in humanist thought charts an unsustainable path forward that is not only a concern ethically but existentially” and urges us to “turn away from a humanist understanding of design and look toward a posthumanist understanding” (Wakkary 2021, p. 2). Posthumanism’s desire to move beyond the concerns of humanity necessitates the question: “What and crucially whose conception of humanity are we moving beyond?” (Jackson 2015, italics original). My humanist review of Wakkary’s book aims to stoke communal discussion by voicing contentions without resolving debates. Wakkary proposes posthumanist design as an “option to radically speculate an alternative rather than to incrementally rebuild [that] allows for establishing different rules and principles so as not to be weighed down by past decisions and long-held assumptions” (Wakkary 2021, p. 12). Here I point to Humanistic HCI and its emancipatory impulse as “oriented toward exposing and eradicating one or more forms of bondage and oppression, including structural racism, poverty, sexual repression, colonialism, and other forces/effects of the hegemonic status quo” (Bardzell and Bardzell 2015, p. 115). If humanist HCI researchers are concerned with questioning hegemonic status quo and working towards emancipation from intersecting oppressive systems, what are the socio-political and ethical implications of adopting a posthumanist perspective premised on not being weighed down by past decisions? Despite its self-avowed turn away from humanism, I argue that posthumanism warrants critical engagement with humanist perspectives and future research must prioritize building strategic alliances. I organize and present my review of Wakkary’s book in three sections. First, I provide context situating Wakkary’s posthumanism in relation to epistemic shifts in HCI. Next, I build a humanist engagement with Wakkary’s posthumanist arguments. I conclude by articulating critical tensions for future HCI research and practice around three posthumanist ideas: nomadic practices, vital matter, and speaking subject.