D a v i d  R.  G r u b e r, PhD

Cognition & Communication

Rhetoric & Philosophy

University of Nevada, Las Vegas



About


Dr. David R. Gruber

I study the communication challenges, persuasive impacts, and philosophical conundrums around new science, focusing on neuroscience and quantum physics.

I am interested in interdisciplinary, boundary-breaking work. I think about the material dynamics of persuasion, the body-brain connection, gut feelings, subconscious allure, etc. I often wonder if the universe is conscious. Below is a list of my writings.

Writings


 

Journal Articles - Philosophy

Journal of Speculative Philosophy - 'What's it like to be a universe?' issue 36.3 (2022)

Journal of Consciousness Studies - 'On Integrated Information Theory and Adversarial Collaboration', Interview w/ Christof Koch, issue 29.12 (2022)

Philosophy and Rhetoric - 'A question of onto-epistemological access', issue 55.2 (2022, w/ J. Kalin)

Journal of Consciousness Studies - 'Questioning Conscious Realism, an interview with Donald Hoffman' - 2021

Rhizomes - 'The brain is a blinding light, an essay' - 2021

Body & Society - 'There is No Brain' - 2019

Ctheory - 'Bodies Without Skin' - 2011

 

Journal Articles - Rhetoric / Persuasion Studies

Rhetoric Review - 'Toward a Rhetorical Theory of the Face', issue 42.2 (2023)

Configurations - 'New Materialist Metaphor Studies', issue 31.1 (2023)

Enculturation - 'Ecologies of 'Sleepy Joe' and 'Mini Mike': The affective politics of ethos and the ethics of Ad Hominem Light', issue Sept. (2022)

POROI - 'Where did the rhetoric of science go? A double review.' - 2022 (w/ Pamela Pietrucci)

Journal of Science Communication - 'Neurons in sparkling space' - 2021

Quarterly Journal of Speech - 'New materialist theory for events of dissention' - 2020

Leonardo - 'A Critical NeuroArt for a Critical Neuroscience' - 2020

Enculturation - 'Plural Forms of Rhetorical Identification' - 2020

World Medical & Health Policy - 'Socializing the gut' (w/ J. Kalin) - 2019

POROI - 'Scientific Futures for a Rhetoric of Science' - 2019

Rhet of Health and Medicine - 'Gut Rhetorics' (w/ J. Kalin) - 2018

Written Communication - 'Three forms of Neuro-Realism' - 2017

Journal of Medical Humanities - 'Bodies in Genres of Practice' - 2017

Journal of Science Communication - 'Measuring Debate about Mirror Neurons' - 2016

Journal of Medical Humanities - 'Interactivity and Diagnosis: Medicalization of the Post-Museum' 2016

Rhetoric Review - 'Reinventing the Brain, Revising Neurorhetorics' - 2016

Language and Communication - 'Suasive Speech: A stronger affective defense of rhetoric' - 2016

Media Commons - 'Gesture / Language / Mirror' (multimedia research w/ D. Howe) - 2014

Technical Communication Quarterly - 'Mirror Neurons in a Group Analysis 'Hall of Mirrors' - 2014

Rhetoric Society Quarterly - 'Affective Constitutive Rhetoric' - 2014

Writing and Pedagogy - 'From Typing to Touching' - 2014

Public Understanding of Science - 'Persuasive Images in Popular Science' (w/ J. Dickerson) - 2012

HyperRhiz - 'Tunnel Vision' (w/ D. Rieder) - 2012

Visual Comm Quarterly - 'Theatrical Bodies: Comedy and Tragedy in Two Anatomical Displays' - 2011

POROI - 'Rhetoric and the Neurosciences' (w/ Jack et al.) - 2011

Media History - 'From the Screen to Me: Three Phases of the Human-Computer Relationship' - 2010

 

Books & Edited Collections

David R. Gruber and Lynda Walsh, Eds. The Routledge Handbook of Language and Science, Routledge, Dec. 2019

David R. Gruber, Brain art and neuroscience: Neurosensuality and affective realism, Routledge, 2020. (Sample chapter available here.)

David R. Gruber, Splat! On throwing things and the messy politics of material protest, 'Intermezzo' books series, Enculturation, 2022.

 

Book Chapters & Reviews

Copenhagen School of Argumentation, eds. Christian Kock & Marcus Lantz - 'Sniff the air and settle in', a chapter on bullshitting - 2023

Rhetoric Society Quarterly - (Review of) 'Architects of Memory' by Nathan Johnson - 2022

⚬ Comm. Convergence in Contem. China - ''Ploughing Fortunes' (news metaphors of fine wine in China) - 2020

Rhetorical Animals - 'Multiple Rhetorical Animals' - 2017

⚬ Imagining China - 'Lufsig rhetoric, throwing plush toys' - 2017

⚬ Methods in the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine - 'Experiments in Rhetoric' - 2017

Information, Communication & Society - (Review of) 'Data Love' by Roberto Simanowski - 2017.

Configurations - (Review of) 'American Lobotomy' by Jenell Johnson - 2016.

⚬ Creativity and Discovery in the University - 'Using digital infographics and timelines' - 2015

⚬ Rhet and the DH - 'New Materialism and a Rhetoric of Scientific Practice in Digital Humanities' - 2014

Journal of Visual Culture - (Review of) 'Antidiets of the Avant-Garde' by Cecilia Novero - 2011.

 

Poetry

⚬ Technocultures - 'Three Poems'

 


Art Projects


brainspace exhibit

Brain Space

NFTs made from my own brain scans, exploring themes of fear-futurism-space-invasiveness

glm

Interactive Gesture Algorithm

A collaborative project inspired by mirror neuron research in the cognitive neurosciences.

speechless by annika kompart

Speechless, Experimental Dance Project

An experimental dance project led and designed by Annika Kompart; I participated as an invited guest.

Critical NeuroArt

Critical NeuroArt

An iterative text project involving neuroscience communication and critical-cultural evaluation.

Smog Tree Processing Work

Ecological Automation Processing Work

A tree fractal project made with Processing programming.

CutUps Images

Image Cut-Ups

An image series about digital fragmentation and cultural experience.

neurohuman logo

NeuroHuman.com

A neurohumanities resource site: interviews with neuroscientists about the humanities.