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Certificate for Approving the Dissertation MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Kevin J. Rutherford Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Director (Jason Palmeri) Reader (Michele Simmons) Reader (Heidi McKee) Reader (Kate Ronald) Graduate School Representative (Bo Brinkman) ABSTRACT PACK YOUR THINGS AND GO: BRINGING OBJECTS TO THE FORE IN RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION by Kevin J. Rutherford This dissertation project focuses on object-oriented rhetoric (OOR), a perspective that questions the traditional notions of rhetorical action as solely a human province. The project makes three major, interrelated claims: that OOR provides a unique and productive methodology to examine the inclusion of the non-human in rhetorical study; that to some extent, rhetoric has always been interested in the way nonhuman objects interact with humans; and that these claims have profound implications for our activities as teachers and scholars. Chapter one situates OOR within current scholarship in composition and rhetoric, arguing that it can serve as a useful methodology for the field despite rhetoric’s traditional focus on epistemology and human symbolic action. Chapter two examines rhetorical history to demonstrate that a view of rhetoric that includes nonhuman actors is not new, but has often been marginalized. Chapter three examines two videogames as sites of theory and practice for object-oriented rhetoric, specifically focusing on a sense of metaphor to understand the experience of nonhuman rhetors. Chapter four interrogates the network surrounding a review aggregation website to argue that, while some nonhumans may be unhelpful rhetorical collaborators, OOR can assist us in improving relationships with them. Finally, chapter five argues for object-oriented changes in practices and approaches in both teaching and research. PACK YOUR THINGS AND GO: BRINGING OBJECTS TO THE FORE IN RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English by Kevin J. Rutherford Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2015 Dissertation Director: Jason Palmeri Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi Chapter One: Object-Oriented Rhetoric as Methodology .............................................................. 1 Why Object-Oriented Rhetoric Now? .................................................................................. 3 What Objects Are ........................................................................................................ 4 Considering Our Relations to Objects ........................................................................ 5 Rhetoric as Anthropocentric Discipline ............................................................................... 6 The Nonhuman Turn in Contemporary Rhetorical Theory ................................................ 10 Key Concepts in Object-Oriented Ontology ...................................................................... 14 Ontology as First Philosophy .................................................................................... 15 A Flat Ontology Equalizes Objects........................................................................... 16 Objects Have Agency; They Act .............................................................................. 18 Objects Withdraw; We Orient Toward Them ........................................................... 21 Identifying Uncertainties .......................................................................................... 24 Overview of Chapters ......................................................................................................... 26 Chapter Two: Uncovering Objects in Rhetorical History............................................................. 29 Approaches: How to Find Intriguing Moments ................................................................. 31 Giambattista Vico: Imagination as an Object ..................................................................... 33 Kenneth Burke: Motive as Withdrawn Object ................................................................... 38 Young, Becker, and Pike: Multivalent, Recursive Objects ................................................ 46 Conclusions: Searching for Objects ................................................................................... 51 Chapter Three: Thinking with and against AI: Representations of Machine Intelligence in Mass Effect and Deus Ex: Human Revolution ........................................................................................ 54 Why Video Games? ............................................................................................................ 55 Video Games and Rhetorical Scholarship ................................................................ 55 Video Games and Object-Oriented Ontology ........................................................... 58 Posthumanism and Consciousness ..................................................................................... 60 Mass Effect: Narrative Representations of Machine Consciousness .................................. 63 Deus Ex: Understanding Machine Experience through Mechanics ................................... 71 Theorizing Object Consciousness through Games ............................................................. 80 ii The Possibilities of OOR and Games ................................................................................. 82 Chapter Four: Humans Writing for Machines Writing for Humans: Metacritic, Exploitation, and Agency .......................................................................................................................................... 84 Developing an OOR Approach to Machine Readers/Writers ............................................ 85 Why Metacritic? ................................................................................................................ 87 The Metacritic Algorithm as Networked Rhetor ............................................................... 91 Our Very Own Metacritic: Machine Reading in Composition ........................................ 100 Counterexamples: Other Digital Systems ........................................................................ 104 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 107 Chapter 5: Implications for Pedagogy and Research .................................................................. 109 Guideline One: Begin with Objects .................................................................................. 110 Guideline Two: Humbly Collaborate ............................................................................... 115 Guideline Three: Practice Metaphorism and Rhetorical Carpentry ................................. 121 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 126 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 128 iii List of Figures Figure 1. Legion, left, with a male Commander Shepard. ............................................................ 64 Figure 2. Shepard inside the Geth collective consciousness. While the environment is differently stylized, the player's control of Shepard is the same. ................................................................... 67 Figure 3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution Heads-Up Display. ......................................................... 72 Figure 4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmentation Upgrade Screen. ..................................... 74 Figure 5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution interrogation dialogue choice. ........................................ 75 Figure 6. Metacritic’s creators explain the algorithm’s power to simplify. .................................. 88 Figure 7. A "visual representation" of the algorithm. ................................................................... 89 iv Dedication To my mother, who taught me that great things can emerge from simple parts. v Acknowledgements It seems appropriate that this acknowledgements page has proved to be the most stressful writing in the dissertation process, as it asks me to step back and enumerate the wide variety agents that have helped this project emerge – a seemingly impossible task. First, I’m extraordinarily grateful to Jason Palmeri, who has been a source of support and encouragement throughout my time as a graduate student, but especially as a dissertation chair. Thanks also to my committee, Michele Simmons, Heidi McKee, and Kate Ronald, for their patience, kindness, and advice, as well as their willingness to follow my work into places that have often seemed strange. Special thanks to Bo Brinkman for serving as an outside reader and graduate school representative, and for his valuable input as I started working toward this dissertation. I’m also indebted to the English department for awarding me with a fellowship, as it allowed me important time to work. Additionally, I would like to thank my colleagues here in Oxford, who have patiently helped
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