Description
In 1980 the Australian art critic Robert Hughes produced a Television series for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) entitled ‘The Shock of the New’. It dealt with the development of Modern Art in the 20th Century and specifically how society, particularly in Europe and the United States, reacted to it. Many found the movements such as Cubism, Dadaism and Futurism shocking, illogical, unconventional, and incomprehensible. In the book produced to accompany the series Hughes wrote a chapter called ‘The Mechanical Paradise’ which focused on how the advent of technology affected Modern Art; particularly mass production, the invention of the aeroplane and the motorcar. These developments were seen by utopians and idealists as the great liberators of mankind; devices that would emancipate man from the shackles of bounded living and consistent overwork.
Likewise, the emergence of Hybrid Warfare, Digital Warfare and developments in Space technology in the 21st Century are the new 'Shocks' which humanity is grappling with. Dual-use technologies and the increasing commercialisation of Outer Space are of increasing importance and interest. How democratic societies can build resilience against Hybrid Threats and Digital Warfare when they are employed by authoritarian regimes is a timely question, as is the future of global governance and regulation of activities in Space when past legal frameworks are increasingly being seen as redundant and ineffective.
These avenues of research make up the core of my PhD Thesis, which I have been researching for the past year. My intention is to present the current state of my research to the Astropolitics Working Group at the BISA Conference next year and receive feedback.
