ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the implications of developments in sensor technology that allow us an inkling of the world beyond our perception. It begins with the memory of a childhood encounter with a mysterious bat while invoking the philosopher Thomas Nagel’s description of bat echolocation. Nagel’s argument, that some phenomena exist beyond the purview of “reductionist” science, has been championed more recently by proponents of object-oriented ontology, and this debate forms the context for a visit to the research labs of Rolf Mueller at Virginia Tech, where his team has been building a “biosonar head” based on the echolocation apparatus of tropical horseshoe bats. To encounter the biotic source of inspiration, the narrative joins bat ecologist Susan Loeb on a survey of the bat population in Stumphouse Tunnel near Clemson University. The chapter culminates in an experience of “sonic empathy” imagined by the Leeds-based sound artist Alex De Little, who created an installation based on 3D printed, wearable versions of horseshoe bat ears from Mueller’s ear zoo.
