FutureNatural

Book excerpt: We are living in an age when 'nature' seems to be on the brink of extinction yet, at the same time, 'nature' is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and unstable as a category for representation and debate. Futurenatural brings together leading theorists of culture and science to discuss the concept of 'nature' - its past, present and future. Contributors discuss the impact on our daily life of recent developments on biotechnologies, electronic media and ecological politics. Increasingly, scientific theories and models have been taken up as cultural metaphors that have material effects in transforming 'ways of seeing' and 'structures of feeling'. The book addresses the issue of whether political and cultural debates about the body and environment can take place without reference to 'nature' or the 'natural'. This collection considers how we might 'think' a future developing from emergent scientific theories and discourses. What cultural forms may be produced when new knowledges challenge and undermine traditional ways of conceiving the 'natural'.