Dale Carrico (born 1965) is an American critical theorist and rhetorician. He is a critic of futurology [1] [2] [3] [4] and geoengineering. [5] [6] [7]
Critical theory is the reflective assessment and critique of society and culture by applying knowledge from the social sciences and the humanities. Critical theory has origins in sociology and also in literary criticism. The sociologist Max Horkheimer described a theory as critical insofar as it seeks "to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them."
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Along with grammar and logic, it is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the capacities of writers or speakers needed to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. Aristotle defines rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion" and since mastery of the art was necessary for victory in a case at law or for passage of proposals in the assembly or for fame as a speaker in civic ceremonies, calls it "a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics". Rhetoric typically provides heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations, such as Aristotle's three persuasive audience appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. The five canons of rhetoric or phases of developing a persuasive speech were first codified in classical Rome: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.
Futures studies, also called futurology, is the study of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures and the worldviews and myths that underlie them. In general, it can be considered as a branch of the social sciences and parallel to the field of history. Futures studies seeks to understand what is likely to continue and what could plausibly change. Part of the discipline thus seeks a systematic and pattern-based understanding of past and present, and to determine the likelihood of future events and trends.
Carrico received his Ph.D. from the Department of Rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley in 2005 and is an adjunct at the San Francisco Art Institute. Carrico was the Human Rights Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies from 2004 to 2008. He organized the 12th Annual Boundaries in Question Conference in March 2003, the 13th Annual Boundaries in Question Conference in March 2004, on the topic “New Feminist Perspectives on Biotechnology and Bioethics”, and was conference chair of the IEET conference on “Human Enhancement Technologies and Human Rights” held at Stanford Law School in May 2006.
San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) is a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI is one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately 400 undergraduates and 200 graduate students are enrolled. The institution is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD).
The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) is a "technoprogressive think tank" that seeks to contribute to understanding of the likely impact of emerging technologies on individuals and societies by "promoting and publicizing the work of thinkers who examine the social implications of scientific and technological advance". It was incorporated in the United States in 2004, as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, by philosopher Nick Bostrom and bioethicist James Hughes.
Stanford Law School is a professional graduate school of Stanford University, located in Silicon Valley near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law has been ranked one of the top three law schools in the country, with Yale Law School and Harvard Law School, every year since 1992. Since 2016, Stanford Law has been ranked 2nd. Stanford Law is consistently regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world.
