Unthought

Katherine Hayles is known for breaking new ground at the intersection
of the sciences and the humanities. In Unthought,
she once again bridges disciplines by revealing how we think
without thinking—how we use cognitive processes that are inaccessible
to consciousness yet necessary for it to function.
Marshalling fresh insights from neuroscience, cognitive science,
cognitive biology, and literature, Hayles expands our understanding of
cognition and demonstrates that it involves more than consciousness
alone. Cognition, as Hayles defines it, is applicable not only to nonconscious
processes in humans but to all forms of life, including unicellular
organisms and plants. Startlingly, she also shows that cognition
operates in the sophisticated information-processing abilities of technical
systems: when humans and cognitive technical systems interact,
they form “cognitive assemblages”—as found in urban traffic control,
drones, and the trading algorithms of finance capital, for instance—
and these assemblages are transforming life on earth. The result is
what Hayles calls a “planetary cognitive ecology,” which includes both
human and technical actors and which poses urgent questions to humanists
and social scientists alike.
At a time when scientific and technological advances are bringing
far-reaching aspects of cognition into the public eye, Unthought reflects
deeply on our contemporary situation and moves us toward a more
sustainable and flourishing environment for all beings.