Courses & Events

In October, Erik Davis returns to Weirdosphere to guide us through a close and prophetic reading of another Philip K. Dick novel. This time, we will be reading 1968’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, one of Dick’s most explicitly ethical novels, and best known as the novel that formed the basis for Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Davis will present Dick’s work and life in the late 1960s and lay out some of the novel’s major themes. We will be reading the novel not so much as fiction or science fiction but as a prophetic lens on today’s polycrisis, aspects of which resonate uncannily with Dick’s philosophical and visionary concerns. Registration opens September 1.

This course starts October 1.

What can the horror genre reveal to us about the nature of truth? Works of horror fiction and cinema often hinge on the gradual revelation of a terrible truth, a truth the protagonists begin by doubting, only to be forced to reckon with as the story unfolds. Why does a culture that has stopped believing in spirits and demons insist on paying to be frightened by them in books and films, and why does that fright, at some level, feel more like being reminded of something than being told something new? Is horror an ongoing rehearsal for the toppling of the post-truth age? Across six weeks, participants will explore horror as a fear of certain truths we already know.

This course starts September 17.

For those who work with AI, have strong feelings about it, or don’t know how to begin thinking about it at all, “The Rebirth of Language,” with scholar and educator Emma Stamm, offers a new conceptual toolkit to help us navigate the shifting ground of this complicated and complicating topic. Come with an open mind and expect a stimulating, interactive seminar exploring AI’s impact on language, meaning, and culture, suitable for all levels of familiarity with AI.

This event starts September 3.