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Technically Alive
by John Michael ArcherDrawing on the later writings of Martin Heidegger, the book traces the correspondence between the philosopher's concept of technology and Shakespeare's poetics of human and natural productivity in the Sonnets.
Technicians of Human Dignity: Bodies, Souls, and the Making of Intrinsic Worth (Just Ideas)
by Gaymon BennettTechnicians of Human Dignity traces the extraordinary rise of human dignity as a defining concern of religious, political, and bioethical institutions over the last half century and offers original insight into how human dignity has become threatened by its own success. The global expansion of dignitarian politics has left dignity without a stable set of meanings or referents, unsettling contemporary economies of life and power.Engaging anthropology, theology, and bioethics, Bennett grapples with contemporary efforts to mobilize human dignity as a counter-response to the biopolitics of the human body, and the breakdowns this has generated. To do this, he investigates how actors in pivotal institutions —the Vatican, the United Nations, U.S. Federal Bioethics—reconceived human dignity as the bearer of intrinsic worth, only to become frustrated by the Sisyphean struggle of turning its conceptions into practice.
Technik sozialisieren? / Technology Socialisation?: Soziale Angemessenheit für technische Systeme / Social Appropriateness and Artificial Systems (Techno:Phil – Aktuelle Herausforderungen der Technikphilosophie #10)
by Bruno Gransche Jacqueline Bellon Sebastian Nähr-WagenerAnwendungen Künstlicher Intelligenz, Maschinellen Lernens sowie Robotik und weitere informatische Systeme spielen in immer mehr Bereichen der menschlichen Lebenswelt eine immer wichtigere Rolle. Technik wird dabei auch weiterhin und zunehmend Medium menschlicher Kommunikation und Interaktion sein, darüber hinaus wird jedoch auch immer mehr menschliche Interaktion nicht nur durch sondern mit Technik stattfinden. Eine Dimension neuer Mensch-Technik-Relationen ist dabei das Phänomen sozialer Angemessenheit. Obgleich sich dieses nicht auf ein einfaches Regelwerk reduzieren lässt, verhalten sich Menschen in zwischenmenschlicher Interaktion ganz selbstverständlich sozial angemessen und treffen in der Regel ohne Weiteres ‚den richtigen Ton‘. Wie aber verhält es sich mit ‚intelligenten‘ technischen Systemen? Können – sollten – diese mit Fähigkeiten zu entsprechendem Sozialverhalten ausgestattet werden, um damit auch eine weitere bedeutsame Grenze zwischen Mensch und Technik zum Verschwinden zu bringen? Anders gefragt: Ist es möglich und erforderlich, Technik zu sozialisieren?
Techniques of Hearing: History, Theory and Practices
by Michael Schillmeier, Robert Stock, and Beate OchsnerHearing, health and technologies are entangled in multi-faceted ways. The edited volume addresses this complex relationship by arguing that modern hearing was and is increasingly linked to and mediated by technological innovations. By providing a set of original interdisciplinary investigations that sheds new light on the history, theory and practices of hearing techniques, it is able to explore the heterogeneous entanglements of sound, hearing practices, technologies and health issues. As the first book to bring together historians, scholars from media studies, social sciences, cultural studies, acoustics and neuroscientists, the volume discusses modern technologies and their decisive impact on how ‘normal’ hearing, enhanced and smart hearing as well as hearing impairment have been configured. It brings both new insights into the histories of hearing technologies as well as allowing us to better understand how enabling hearing technologies have currently been unfolding an increasingly hybrid ecology engaging smart hearing devices and offering stress-free hearing and acoustic wellbeing in novel auditory environments. The volume will be of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, sound studies, sociology of health and illness, medical history, health and society as well as those interested in the practices and techniques of self-monitored and smart hearing.
Technisches Handeln und Verantwortung (Magdeburger Forschungen zu Bildungs-, Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften)
by Thorsten Unger Sebastian BöhmerWir sind daran gewöhnt, dass technische Bauten, Apparate und Anlagen funktionieren. Erst wenn Probleme auftreten, erfahren sie Aufmerksamkeit – und es wird die Frage nach der Verantwortung gestellt, oft an die beteiligten Ingenieure. Besonders intensiv wird diese Frage bei heiklen Hochtechnologien wie Atom- und Gentechnik oder sensiblen Infrastrukturen wie Brücken-, Kanal- und Tunnelbauten diskutiert. Im Katastrophenfall vermischen sich dann häufig juristische, sozio- und psychologische, wirtschaftliche, ethische, religiöse und ingenieurwissenschaftliche Aspekte, was sich auch für die Darstellung dieser Problematik in der Kultur seit dem Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts beobachten lässt. Der Band versammelt Beiträge von Expertinnen und Experten aus den Fachgebieten Maschinenbau, Technikphilosophie, Technikgeschichte, Moraltheologie, Berufs- und Betriebspädagogik, Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik. Sie stellen theoretische wie praktische Aspekte von Verantwortung in der Ingenieurstätigkeit sowie entsprechende Diskurse in Politik, Kultur und Gesellschaft vor. Die Beiträge gehen zurück auf eine Ringvorlesung für Studierende aller Fakultäten im Sommersemester 2023 an der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg.
Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us or the Environment
by Michael Huesemann Joyce HuesemannNanotechnology! Genetic engineering! Miracle Drugs! We are promised that new technological developments will magically save us from the dire consequences of the 300-year fossil-fueled binge known as modern industrial civilization, without demanding any fundamental changes in our behavior. There is a pervasive belief that technological innovation will enable us to continue our current lifestyle indefinitely and will prevent social, economic and environmental collapse. Techno-Fix shows that negative unintended consequences of technology are inherently predictable and unavoidable, techno-optimism is completely unjustified, and modern technology, in the presence of continued economic growth, does not promote sustainability, but hastens collapse. The authors demonstrate that most technological solutions to social and technology-created problems are ineffective. They explore the reasons for the uncritical acceptance of new technologies, show who really controls the direction of technological change, and then advocate extensive reform.This comprehensive exposé is a powerful argument for why we can and should put the genie back in the bottle. An insightful and powerful critique, it is required reading for anyone who is concerned about blind techno-optimism and believes that the time has come to make science and technology more socially and environmentally responsible.For more information, please visit technofix.org .
Techno-Vernacular Creativity and Innovation: Culturally Relevant Making Inside and Outside of the Classroom
by Nettrice R. GaskinsA novel approach to STEAM learning that engages students from historically marginalized communities in culturally relevant and inclusive maker education.The growing maker movement in education has become an integral part of both STEM and STEAM learning, tapping into the natural DIY inclinations of creative people as well as the educational power of inventing or making things. And yet African American, Latino/a American, and Indigenous people are underrepresented in maker culture and education. In this book, Nettrice Gaskins proposes a novel approach to STEAM learning that engages students from historically marginalized communities in culturally relevant and inclusive maker education. Techno-vernacular creativity (TVC) connects technical literacy, equity, and culture, encompassing creative innovations produced by ethnic groups that are often overlooked.TVC uses three main modes of activity: reappropriation, remixing, and improvisation. Gaskins looks at each of the three modes in turn, guiding readers from research into practice. Drawing on real-world examples, she shows how TVC creates dynamic learning environments where underrepresented ethnic students feel that they belong. Students who remix computationally, for instance, have larger toolkits of computational skills with which to connect cultural practices to STEAM subjects; reappropriation offers a way to navigate cultural repertoires; improvisation is firmly rooted in cultural and creative practices. Finally, Gaskins explores an equity-oriented approach that makes a distinction between conventional or dominant pedagogical approaches and culturally relevant or responsive making methods and practices. She describes TVC habits of mind and suggests methods of instructions and projects.
TechnoScienceSociety: Technological Reconfigurations of Science and Society (Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook #30)
by Christoph Schneider Sabine Maasen Sascha DickelThis book introduces the term of TechnoScienceSociety to focus on the ongoing technological reconfigurations of science and society. It aspires to use the breadth of Science and Technology Studies to perform a critical diagnosis of our contemporary culture. Instead of constructing technology as society’s “other”, the book sets out to highlight the both complex and ambivalent entanglements of technologies, sciences and socialities. It provides some tentative steps towards a diagnosis of a society in which individuals and organizations address themselves, their pasts, presents, futures, hopes and problems in technoscientific modes. Technosciences redesign matter, life, self and society. However, they do not operate independently: Technoscientific practices are deeply socially and culturally constituted. The diverse contributions highlight the ongoing technological reconfigurations of rationalities, infrastructures, modes of governance, and publics. The book aims to inspire scholars and students to think and analyze contemporary conditions in new ways drawing on, and expanding, the toolkits of Science and Technology Studies.
Technocracy and Political Truth: An Inquiry into the Singularity of Political Judgment (Politologische Aufklärung – konstruktivistische Perspektiven)
by Guido Niccolò BarbiThe inability to envision political alternatives – or, to use Arendt&’s terminology, to make new beginnings – is a key component of today&’s democratic crisis. In its first part, this study shows that this situation results from the growing technocratization of both government and the democratic public sphere, which hinders the ability to form new political judgments. By analyzing rationalized bureaucracy, which substitutes automated procedures for political decision, and mass democracy, which permits the infinite expansion of the administration&’s purview, an account of technocracy as administrative, non-political rule is constructed. The book&’s second part expands on this diagnosis by examining how political judgment differs from epistemic reasoning. This examination puts into dialogue Arendt, Kant, and Vico, reviving a humanist understanding of common sense (sensus communis) and ingenuity (ingenium). This allows us to rethink political judgment as both cognitively immediate and reflectively plural, showcasing how technocratic decision-making illegitimately delimits the horizon for political judgments and new beginnings.
Technocratic Politics: Beyond Democratic Society? (Routledge Studies in Political Sociology)
by Francesco AntonelliThis book considers the role of experts and expertise in contemporary politics and the ways in which digitalisation and the use of technique are transforming practices of governance. Asking whether the Covid-19 crisis is likely to further advance or weaken these processes, it examines their impact on the future of democracy and urges rejection of the idea of technocracy as an alternative to politics. An examination of the relationship between social elites and technique, this volume highlights the threat posed to representative democracy of this fundamental mechanism of governance in the global world and reflects upon new forms of the political-economic regime. It is important reading for scholars of sociology and politics with interests in questions of power, governance, and representation.
Technohumanism, Global Crises, and Education: Toward a Posthuman Pedagogy
by Kaustuv RoyThis book argues that global crises such as the present Covid-19 pandemic are correlates of the contemporary thought regime that it calls technohumanism. Taking up the pandemic as the central case in point, the book shows how the basic assumptions of technohumanism encourage large-scale dependencies and a consequent loss of endurance in the populace. Next, it shows that a form of recuperation can be pedagogically attempted by means of a “psychoanalysis” of thought which releases it from the humanist limits placed on it. To do this, it introduces the notion of a living unconscious as distinct from the Freudian Unconscious, and argues that in the living unconscious there is no distinction between the prehuman and the posthuman, and a posthumanist pedagogy can be constructed on the basis of an adequate transfer of prehuman dynamism.
Technological Governance and Escapism in Times of Accelerated Change (Information Technology and Global Governance)
by Ignas KalpokasThis book examines escapist coping strategies brought about by the pace, breadth and governance of technological change. It argues that escapism manifests in various forms, ranging from nostalgia for a fantasised past of unhindered reason and agency, to progressive visions of societal and political improvement, and greater empowerment. Drawing on post-humanist theory and critical disability studies, the book also assesses how escapism should not be viewed as an unavoidable reaction to technological change, and develops a model for an ethically equitable relationship between humans and technology. It will appeal to all those interested in governance and politics, media and communication studies, technology studies, and philosophy.
Technological Slavery
by Theodore J. Kaczynski David Skrbina"Like many of my colleagues, I felt that I could easily have been the Unabomber's next target. He is clearly a Luddite, but simply saying this does not dismiss his argument. . . . As difficult as it is for me to acknowledge, I saw some merit in the reasoning in [Kaczynski's writing]. I started showing friends the Kaczynski quote from Ray Kurzweil's The Age of Spiritual Machines; I would hand them Kurzweil's book, let them read the quote, and then watch their reaction as they discovered who had written it." -- Bill Joy, founder of Sun Microsystems, in "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us," Wired magazineTheodore J. Kaczynski has been convicted for illegally transporting, mailing, and using bombs, resulting in the deaths of three people. He is now serving a life sentence in the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.The ideas and views expressed by Kaczynski before and after his capture raise crucial issues concerning the evolution and future of our society. For the first time, the reader will have access to an uncensored personal account of his anti-technology philosophy, which goes far beyond Unabomber pop culture mythology.Feral House does not support or justify Kaczynski's crimes, nor does the author receive royalties or compensation for this book. It is this publisher's mission, as well as a foundation of the First Amendment, to allow the reader the ability to discern the value of any document.David Skrbina, who wrote the introduction, teaches philosophy at the University of Michigan, Dearborn.
Technological Utopianism and the Idea of Justice
by Martin SandThis open access book advances a modest defence of technological utopias. While technological utopianism is not devoid of risks and elitism, their benefits should not be discounted in an overall assessment. Rather than rejecting them based on a too narrow definition of utopianism, we must acknowledge their potential to exceed the individualist vs. collectivist dichotomy ascribed to traditional utopias. The author argues, with reference to Rawls’ idea of the basic structure that technological utopias challenge our understanding of the scope and location of justice and, thereby, advance the idea of justice. The book critically reviews the most recent literature in political philosophy, where utopias are understood as ideal theories of justice and sides with recent contributions to Utopian Studies, where utopias’ potential to estrange from the present and galvanize action are underscored.
Technologies of Being in Martin Heidegger: Nearness, Metaphor and the Question of Education in Digital Times (Routledge International Studies in the Philosophy of Education)
by Anna KouppanouTechnologies of Being in Martin Heidegger attempts to deepen the dialogue between philosophy of education and philosophy of technology, while engaging with the thought of Heidegger, Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler. Through a critical reading of Heidegger’s central notion of nearness, this book argues that thinking is intricately conditioned by technologically produced images, which are themselves interacting with imagination’s schematizing power. The book further discusses how certain metaphorical synthesising processes, which are currently industrialized taking the form of social networking sites and search engines, discretise human behaviour and reorganise it in ways that often marginalise human interpretation and redefine nearness. Finally, it suggests how we might reconceptualise technology and education as processes of human individuation. Technologies of Being in Martin Heidegger will be of great interest to scholars in the fields of philosophy of education, philosophy of technology, literary studies, cognitive linguistics and cognitive neuroscience.
Technologies of Critique (Idiom: Inventing Writing Theory)
by Willy ThayerCritique—a program of thought as well as a disposition toward the world—is a crucial resource for politics and thought today, yet it is again and again instrumentalized by institutional frames and captured by market logics. Technologies of Critique elaborates a critical practice that eludes such capture. Building on Chile’s history of dissident artists and the central entangling of politics and aesthetics, Thayer engages continental philosophical traditions, from Aristotle, Descartes and Heidegger through Walter Benjamin and Gilles Deleuze, and in implicit conversation with the Judith Butler, Roberto Esposito, and Bruno Latour, to help pinpoint the technologies and media through which art intervenes critically in socio-political life.
Technologies of International Relations: Continuity And Change
by Michele Acuto Carolin Kaltofen Madeline CarrThis book examines the role of technology in the core voices for International Relations theory and how this has shaped the contemporary thinking of ‘IR’ across some of the discipline’s major texts. Through an interview format between different generations of IR scholars, the conversations of the book analyse the relationship between technology and concepts like power, security and global order. They explore to what extent ideas about the role and implications of technology help to understand the way IR has been framed and world politics are conceived of today. This innovative text will appeal to scholars in Politics and International Relations as well as STS, Human Geography and Anthropology.
Technologies of Life and Death: From Cloning to Capital Punishment
by Kelly OliverThe central aim of this book is to approach contemporary problems raised by technologies of life and death as ethical issues that call for a more nuanced approach than mainstream philosophy can provide. To do so, it draws on the recently published seminars of Jacques Derrida to analyze the extremes of birth and dying insofar as they are mediated by technologies of life and death. With an eye to reproductive technologies, it shows how a deconstructive approach can change the very terms of contemporary debates over technologies of life and death, from cloning to surrogate motherhood to capital punishment, particularly insofar as most current discussions assume some notion of a liberal individual.The ethical stakes in these debates are never far from political concerns such as enfranchisement, citizenship, oppression, racism, sexism, and the public policies that normalize them. Technologies of Life and Death thus provides pointers for rethinking dominant philosophical and popular assumptions about nature and nurture,chance and necessity, masculine and feminine, human and animal, and what it means to be a mother or a father. In part, the book seeks to disarticulate a tension between ethics and politics that runs through these issues in order to suggest a more ethical politics by turning the force of sovereign violence back against itself. In the end, it proposes that deconstructive ethics with a psychoanalytic supplement can provide a corrective for moral codes and political clichés that turn us into mere answering machines.
Technologische Selbstoptimierung – wie weit dürfen wir gehen? (#philosophieorientiert)
by Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs Markus RütherTechnologische Selbstoptimierung ist gegenwärtig in aller Munde. Sie umfasst die Erforschung neuer Möglichkeiten im Hinblick auf Schönheitsoperationen, funktionale Implantologie, Gehirndoping oder die Verlängerung der Lebensspanne. Gegenüber vielen dieser technischen Mittel, die oft nicht legal verfügbar sind, bestehen erhebliche gesellschaftliche Vorbehalte. Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs und Markus Rüther plädieren bei ihrer ethischen Einschätzung für eine Differenzierung der Perspektive: Die Vorbehalte sind nämlich ihrer Meinung nach nicht geeignet, gesellschaftliche Ächtung oder gar verbindliche Verbote für alle zu begründen. Vielmehr habe die Freiheit zur Selbstgestaltung Vorrang, was jedoch nicht heißt, dass es für manche Bereiche nicht auch klare Regeln geben muss. Weil Selbstgestaltung aber nur frei sein kann, wenn sie informiert ist, argumentieren die Autoren für Regelungen, die von weitgehenden Informationspflichten statt von Verboten bestimmt sind. Aus einer individuellen Sicht heraus lassen sich zudem eine Reihe von moralischen Empfehlungen formulieren, die zwar nicht eingefordert werden können, aber einen ethischen Kompass bilden, um sich im Dickicht der ethischen Debatte an guten Gründen zu orientieren.
Technology Ethics: A Philosophical Introduction and Readings
by Jonathan Y. Tsou Gregory J. RobsonThe first of its kind, this anthology in the burgeoning field of technology ethics offers students and other interested readers 32 chapters, each written in an accessible and lively manner specifically for this volume. The chapters are conveniently organized into five parts: I. Perspectives on Technology and its ValueII. Technology and the Good LifeIII. Computer and Information TechnologyIV. Technology and BusinessV. Biotechnologies and the Ethics of Enhancement A hallmark of the volume is multidisciplinary contributions both (1) in "analytic" and "continental" philosophies and (2) across several hot-button topics of interest to students, including the ethics of autonomous vehicles, psychotherapeutic phone apps, and bio-enhancement of cognition and in sports. The volume editors, both teachers of technology ethics, have compiled a set of original and timely chapters that will advance scholarly debate and stimulate fascinating and lively classroom discussion. Downloadable eResources (available from www.routledge.com/9781032038704) provide a glossary of all relevant terms, sample classroom activities/discussion questions relevant for chapters, and links to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries and other relevant online materials. Key Features: Examines the most pivotal ethical questions around our use of technology, equipping readers to better understand technology’s promises and perils. Explores throughout a central tension raised by technological progress: maintaining social stability vs. pursuing dynamic social improvements. Provides ample coverage of the pressing issues of free speech and productive online discourse.
Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurial Innovations: Policies Across Continents (International Studies in Entrepreneurship #51)
by David Urbano Maribel GuerreroEvidence suggests that economies with technology transfer initiatives provide a better supply of high-quality jobs and tend to be characterized by entrepreneurs with higher innovation contributions. This book explores the effectiveness of technology transfer policies and legislation on entrepreneurial innovation in a non-US context. It analyses the theoretical, empirical and managerial implications behind the success of technology transfer polices and legislations in stimulating entrepreneurial innovation; analyses which other contextual condition (e.g., culture) are necessary for successful implementation; and explores the extent and level of replication of US policies (e.g., Bayh-Dole Act, Small Business Innovation Research [SBIR] program) in other national and regional systems. In addition, this book looks at the effect technology transfer policies have on the adoption of open innovation and open science.
Technology and Empire: Perspectives On North America
by George GrantBrilliant and still-timely analysis of the implications of technology-driven globalization on everyday life from Canada’s most influential philosophers, reissued in a handsome A List edition, featuring an introduction by Andrew Potter.Originally published in 1969, Technology and Empire offers a brilliant analysis of the implications of technology-driven globalization on everyday life. The author of Lament for a Nation, George Grant has been recognized as one of Canada’s most significant thinkers. In this sweeping essay collection, he reflects on the extent to which technology has shaped our modern culture.
Technology and Empire: Perspectives on North America
by George GrantGeorge Grant-philosopher, conservative, Canadian nationalist, Christian-was one of Canada's most significant thinkers, and the author of Lament for a Nation, Technology and Justice, and English-Speaking Justice. In Technology and Empire, his comments on technology, religion, the university, political structures, and the significance of modern life are perhaps the most disturbing and enlightening to come from any Canadian philosopher.
Technology and Justice (A List)
by George GrantSix magnificent and stimulating essays examining the role of technology in shaping how we live, by one of Canada’s most influential philosophers, now reissued in a handsome A List edition.Originally published in 1986, the six essays that comprise Technology and Justice offer absorbing reflections on the extent to which technology has shaped the way we live now. George Grant explores the fate of traditional values in modern education, social behaviour, and religion, and offers his insights into some of the most contentious ethical deliberations of the past half-century.In essays ranging in content from classical philosophy to the morals of euthanasia, Technology and Justice showcases Grant’s stimulating commentary on the meaning of the North American experience.
Technology and Mathematics: Philosophical and Historical Investigations (Philosophy of Engineering and Technology #30)
by Sven Ove HanssonThis volume is the first extensive study of the historical and philosophical connections between technology and mathematics. Coverage includes the use of mathematics in ancient as well as modern technology, devices and machines for computation, cryptology, mathematics in technological education, the epistemology of computer-mediated proofs, and the relationship between technological and mathematical computability. The book also examines the work of such historical figures as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and Alan Turing.