Work

a sampling of essays, talks, and other specimens

 

WHAT THE MEADOW REMEMBERS

My column for the Fall 2023 issue of Arnoldia Magazine, shared online via Substack.

 
 

CRY, THEY ARE CALLED

In old-growth forest, a more-than-human mythology finds refuge.

 

EARTH MEASURER

Using machine learning to explore connections between the rise of technology and the enormity of biodiversity loss in the Anthropocene.

 

FUTUREFOOD

Interactive & participatory series of events to explore feral biodiversity, food systems, and mutual aid.

 

Turing’s Mill

With help from Alfred Hitchcock, remixing fragments of the philosophical history of machine intelligence, from the work of two authors in particular: Wilhem Gottfried Leibniz and Alan Turing.

 

AEON: Specimens

Figurines, fishers, bugs and bats — how things in the world become sacred objects in a museum.

 

Orion: On technology

2013 Orion Magazine column explored technology entangled in experiences of the living world.

 

LITHUB: CAN TREES SAVE THE WORLD AFTER WE’re GONE?

Excerpt from Tree, my Object Lessons book (Bloomsbury 2017).

 

hilobrow: The call of the feral

All creatures must learn to cultivate the feral qualities.

 

The Feral Trees (talk)

Invasive trees offer unique perspectives on the more-than-human city. An event arranged by the New Natures Foundry; Umeå Studies in Science, Technology, and Environment; and Department of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies. May 17, 2016.

 

Bearing the Standard (talk)

A talk about standards—in measurement, science, design, and materials—as social texts. Delivered at the 2014 Books in Browsers conference, San Francisco. October 27, 2014.

 

going feral on the net (talk)

The feral is a metaphor — and maybe more than just a metaphor — for thriving in cyberspace, a habitat that changes too rapidly for anyone truly to be native. In this talk, I weave critical and reflective discussion of online experience with a short story from my collection, The Sovereignties of Invention.

 

Libraries and Occupations (talk)

In connection with the Occupy movement, I offered a short talk about libraries as part of past social-justice movements.