A mobile phone makes us all cyborgs, good and bad: University of Bolton doctor presents cyborg living event and launches the virtuous cyborg book

Gaming expert, philosopher and University of Bolton researcher Dr Chris Bateman presents a Cyborg Living event, held in London’s trendy Shoreditch district on 10 May 2018, where a panel of Artificial Intelligence specialists, philosophers and artists explores the concept of humans using devices such as mobile ‘phones, tablets and computers, as cyborgs.

The Cyborg Living event is also the launch vehicle for Dr Bateman’s latest book, The Virtuous Cyborg, which poses the philosophical question of cybervirtues: as device users, whether people choose to be good or bad cyborgs. The panellists will debate and answer questions on living intimately with computers, discussing ‘good’ cybervirtues such as Pokémon GO encouraging exercise as well as the potential for darker behaviours where the design of Facebook and Twitter could encourage cyber-cruelty and online bullying.

The evening event ran in parallel to the two-month ‘It’s Alive!’ exhibition by DJ and mixed-media artist Justin Robinson, inspired in part by Dr Bateman’s philosophical work. Running from 26 April, the exhibition at The Book Club in Shoreditch challenges the concept of ‘machine mind’ and the human desire for escapism, exploring what it is to be human and alive. On the Cyborg Living panel will be philosopher and Nietzsche expert Professor Babette Babich who uses one of Dr Bateman’s publications as a coursebook at Fordham University in New York; Goldsmith University’s AI and sex robot specialist Kate Devlin; and poet-in-residence at Pembroke College Cambridge and publisher, Todd Swift.

Dr Chris Bateman teaches at both the University of Bolton and California's Laguna College of Art and Design. He runs an award-winning game consultancy International Hobo Ltd. and his 50th game title to be published this year will be either Tropico 6 or PlayStation’s The Persistence. In 2013 he became the first person worldwide to receive a doctorate in the aesthetics of games and play.