Georgie Newson

PhD Philosophy

Biography

Background

I studied literature and critical theory at Cambridge, then spent a year working in an editorial capacity for the London Review of Books. After a spell providing research assistance for Oxford's Cultures of Knowledge project, I joined the philosophy department at Edinburgh, where my work remains highly interdisciplinary. 

Undergraduate teaching

I tutor Philosophy of Science 1 for pre-honours undergraduates. Students looking to get in touch about this class can contact me on my staff address: gnewson@ed.ac.uk.

Research summary

My PhD project is a philosophical genealogy of the concept of the 'hivemind'. I trace the appearance of this image in science fiction to a wider history of attempts to model human collectives (groups, nations, social networks) as organic cognitive agents (hives, organisms, minds, brains). I am particularly focused on the ways in which intelligence has been theorised in terms of the organisation of epistemic labour, and on how these theorisations have fed into utopian political schemes.

I have previously worked on topics in the history of information technology, Early Modern utopianism, dialetheism and its applications, science fiction, mystical writing, and psychoanalysis.

Please see my personal website and my PhilPeople link above for a complete list of my publications.

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