Thread by @metalabharvard

hi all @mrheeloy here, happy to take over @metalabharvard's handle today. i'm going to share some links of interests, & highlight students' work from the adv. seminar "Machine Dreams" I'm teaching at Harvard as College Fellow in Digital Practice: english.fas.harvard.edu/english-90md-m…

I also hold a position at SUNY Buffalo as an assistant professor of media theory (Fall 2018). I'm a poet, scholar, and new media artist. I wrote the poetry book, Love, Robot, and finishing up a monograph on robots to be reviewed at Duke University Press.

With all this said, my interests in teaching this seminar centers on intersectionality, especially how literature, robots, and machines intersect and intertwine. Throughout the day, I'll share references from, and end with student poems written in "Machine Dreams."

After watching the original Blade Runner (1982) film and reading Donna Haraway's iconic essay "A Cyborg Manifesto"

faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory…

We created tweets about the essay inspired by
@tinysubversions poetic bots

We were lucky to talk with @tinysubversions in a special in class virtual discussion with Kazemi, we discussed Haraway, cyborgs, bot making, glasses, and the future of literature.

This conversation w/@tinysubversions will be included in our class podcast interviews w/@markedoten, @lim_eugene, Katie Williams, @IntifadaBatata, & more.

Our pedagogy is inspired by @CathyNDavidson's work on digital learning & creativity: bit.ly/2CzBP6o

Stay tuned for more references from cyborg pedagogy, & student's Blade Runner poems, which will appear here, & republished in the zine I edit: issuu.com/repcollective/…

We also invite you all to write your own BR poems, which will be included in the zine #90MD #MachineDreams

Incred artists featured in the first issue include @markcmarino @webbish6 @robottomulatto among others! Check their work out!🤖

With @CathyNDavidson's insights on pedagogy framing our approach, we continued our cyborg pedagogical journey.

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/306330/n… …

With this pedagogical frame, watching Blade Runner, reading Haraway, & talking with Kazemi framed our disc. of Larissa Lai's The Automaton Biographies, a poetry collection that refigures Blade Runner's character Rachel through poetic consciousness: ftp.arsenalpulp.com/bookinfo.php?i…

After our discussion, the student created their own original poems inspired by a quote from the film, and in the perspective of a Replicant.

We wanted to write creatively in light of Haraway and Larissa Lai and in the space of a Tweet (Kazemi)

Written in a ten minute writing session, the students bring to life Replicant consciousness! Drawing from quotes such as "more human than human,"or the perspective of Sebastian, and the haunting end scene of Replicant Roy's Death...

For those familiar with the film, you'll recognize pivotal scenes and quotes from the film, and may delight with the creative and subtle turns the poems take to comment on human/machine relations.

We hope you enjoy them! Please feel free to tweet you own Blade Runner inspired poetry, and we'll be happy to include!