Abstract

This paper takes the question of the existence of life on mars as a pretext for a discussion of the quest for artificial/alien life and of the relation between evolution and becoming. It argues for the contingent association between artificial life and evolution, alien life and becoming and uses Bergson to distinguish between creative and conservative evolutionism in contemporary technoscientific art and science. The methodological, epistemological and ontological implications of an approach informed by mobility are drawn out, and finally the paper returns to the question: ‘is there life on mars?’, and answers it.

• Sarah Kember teaches in the Media and Communications department at Goldsmiths College. She is the author of Cyberfeminism and Artificial Life (Routledge 2003) and is co-editing a special issue of Theory, Culture and Society entitled ‘Vital Processes: Ontology, Materiality, and Information’ (forthcoming 2004). She is currently working across feminist technoscience and new media studies and across academic and creative writing.