Mark O'Connell
(Ireland, 1979) is a literary expert and journalist who lives and works in Dublin. He writes for publications like the New Yorker, The Independent en New York Times Magazine. His 2018 debut To Be a Machine was nominated for the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize, the most important British non-fiction award. In the book, O'Connell researches trans-humanism, a Silicon Valley subculture that devotes itself to radical life extension by melding man and technology. In 2018, O'Connell told the NRC: "They have a mechanistic view on what it means to be human. They literally see humans as machines. [...] My inquiry was into the question of what it means for a human to become a machine, but ultimately I learned more about what it means to be human."
Past events
Forever Clips Clips Clips
Writers Hanna Bervoets and Mark O'Connell and film curator Gerlinda Heywegen presented and commented on video clips, short films and excerpts from games and feature films related to the festival theme 'Who wants to live forever?'
Film: 'Frankenstein' (1931), introduced by Mark O'Connell
The obsessed Dr. Henry Frankenstein is far ahead of his time. He succeeds in bringing dead tissue to life. Screening of the classic 1931 movie adaptation of Mary Shelley's epistolary novel. Introduced by Mark O'Connell, Irish author of To be a machine (2018).
Man-Machine: And Technology Created the New Human
Hanna Bervoets and Irish writer of bestselling novel To Be a Machine discuss our "trans-human" future.
