Humanism and Technology

Opportunities and Challenges

Anthony B. Pinn

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9783319317137
• eBook ISBN: 9783319317144
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy & Ethics in Science

This book interrogates the ways in which new technological advances impact the thought and practices of humanism. Chapters investigate the social, political, and cultural implications of the creation and use of advanced forms of technology, examining both defining benefits and potential dangers. Contributors also discuss technology's relationship to and impact on the shifting definitions we hold for humankind.

International and multi-disciplinary in nature and scope, the volume presents an exploration of humanism and technology that is both racially diverse and gender sensitive. With great depth and self-awareness, contributors offer suggestions for how humanists and humanist organizations might think about and relate to technology in a rapidly changing world. More broadly, the book offers a critical humanistic interrogation of the concept of "progress" especially as it relates to technological advancement.

© The Author(s) 2016

A. B. Pinn (ed.)Humanism and Technology Studies in Humanism and Atheismhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31714-4_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Anthony B. Pinn¹

(1)

Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

End Abstract

Implicit in virtually any discussion of humanism—its nature, meaning, and future—is concern with the manner in which human life is structured, marked off, and measured. That is to say, to speak of humanism is to speak about a particular metaphysics, a certain framing of what the human is (ontology) and the nature and content of what humans know (epistemology). Embedded in this framing of humanism is a simple, but far from simplistic, question: what are the possibilities for human life within a context of ongoing deep alteration; and, what might humanism say about and contribute to these possibilities? One of the compelling contexts for this question is technology, particularly as it relates to the human’s ability to alter the quality, length, depth, and general tone and texture of human life.

Setting Context

Technology: Tekˈnäləjē/Tech·nol·o·gy.

Technological advances. Technological developments. Technological enhanced injustice.

How many movies in recent years have explored technology as responsible for intensified “natural” disasters? Or, how many movies have presented human ability to produce technological projects that blur the distinction between human and machine? For good or ill, movies such as Her and Transcendence, for example, have probed on one hand what it means to be human and what might (or might not) constitute uniquely human configurations of relationship, emotional attachment, and psychological mutuality. And, on the other hand, they have brought up as a necessary dimension of public conversation the ability of humans to achieve Singularity—a somewhat seamless blending of human and machine in such a way as to alter fundamentally what can be meant by anthropology and engineering.

Granted, Her doesn’t involve a concern with the blending of machine and human in a strict sense, but rather it speaks to the ability of machines to “learn” so as to offer an intimate—deep emotional, psychological, and physical—connection that replaces such connection with biological human bodies. Written by Spike Jonze, the movie pushes audiences to think about the human’s relationship to technology produced, and the way in which this technology might constitute new modalities of relationship. Can humans love machines? Really love machines? ¹ Of course, there are technological advances meant to hide the “metallic” nature of machines through artificial skin, and so on, but Her explores the ability to forge emotional connection and intimacy without the effort to shift the appearance of the machine.

Wally Pfister and Jack Paglen’s Transcendence, on the other hand, doesn’t seek to explore the ability of human and machine to develop emotional attachment along the lines of love. Instead, it explores the ability of the human to end mortality, to extend life through Singularity—the unification of technology and human in ways that make the body (as bio-chemical reality and as discursive construction) unnecessary for expansion of knowledge and existence. It is something of a cautionary tale; yet, it suggests quest for immortality and perfect knowledge is unavoidable and connected to our most basic yearnings. ²

In addition to Her and Transcendence, there are films that chronicle environmental destruction on various scales resulting from human machines and the technologies that guide them. Whether it be super storms played out on the large screen, sobering depictions of climate change via thoughtful documentaries, or retelling of current events for mass consumption on Twitter or Facebook, the impact of technology on the world and the (human) life supported by this world is a topic of deep concern to the popular imagination of a global community.

I mention these films not because this book is focused on popular depictions of technology and humanity—although cultural expression is taken up at certain points. These references do not capture the full scope of technology, nor the various approaches and response to technological advancement. No, I briefly note them as examples of a growing and important discussion of the nature and meaning of the human over and against what the human is able to generate through the application of scientific knowledge (read technology). That is to say, they serve as cases of the ongoing debate regarding the intersections of humanity and technology.

Furthermore, the above comments are meant to point to the importance of technology (and conversations regarding technology) for any understanding of the nature and meaning of humanism—to the extent, humanism has anything to do with humanity. The significance of technological development for humanism is heightened when one considers the degree to which the cartography of human existence is framed by advances that shift the human’s relationship to herself, to others, to the world, and to the metaphysical questions and concerns undergirding such connections. What does humanism mean in our current age of technological development? What can humanism say to and about such advances?

Thinking About Technology and Anthropology

Mindful of the importance of such questions, the Institute for Humanist Studies gathered a diverse group to think together concerning various dimensions of the intersections between humanity and technology. This group represented the USA and Europe, involved thinkers with differing connections to (and understandings of) humanism, and entailed different professional approaches to the very question of humanism.

As is the Institute’s practice, over the course of two days, each invitee presented a paper on some dimension of the general theme—“Humanism and Technology”—and the papers were followed by conversation. Energetic at times, these discussions pointed out key considerations and blended optimism regarding how technological advance might improve human life, with a degree of caution concerning harm technology might not address adequately and modes of destruction it might actually promote.

The general goal of the two-day meeting was to provide information, perspective, and opinions that might help a general audience (composed of those interested in, if not devoted to, humanism) think through the implications of technology for humanism in particular and human life in more general terms. Addressing such issues is an important dimension of the Institute for Humanist Studies agenda and, in a more general sense, speaks to the concerns of humanist (and atheist) organizations despite elements of programmatic and ideological disagreement. Humans and the implications of their technological advances tend to cut across, in some forms, political tensions within “the” non-theistic movement(s). For instance, “Singularity,” or in a more general sense, the blurring of significant distinctions between human and human creations, is understood across a range of non-theistic lines of organizing, emphasis, and objectives. While not phrased explicitly, doesn’t the American Atheists, Inc., aim to “promote the study of the arts and sciences and of all problems affecting the maintenance, perpetuation, and enrichment of human (and other) life” ³ speak to the challenges and potentialities of technological advance? Furthermore, think in terms of “Humanist Manifesto III” and its connection to the American Humanist Association. This document, often referenced by members of the American Humanist Association for clarity on particular issues and ideals, has the following to say concerning technology. “Knowledge of the world,” it states, “is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis. Humanists find that science is the best method for determining this knowledge as well as for solving problems and developing beneficial technologies.” ⁴ Such a statement shadows, if it doesn’t beg, the question of technological advancement addressed by chapters in this volume.

In other words, thinking publically about technology and humanity is a vital dimension of the ongoing relevance of humanism. Failure on this front might constitute a stumbling block for humanism’s ongoing significance in geographies marked by growing communities of those without “religious” affiliation. Put differently,

the point is to foster open and honest reflection on and seek to address any barriers that prevent humanism from fulfilling its potential as an agent of human growth, human health, and advancement. In this way, humanism is brought more fully into the public arena and known for its ability to provide significant insight and strategies much needed at this point in human history. Necessary is advocacy for humanism as a means by which to develop strategies and structures (of knowledge and activism) equipped to advance a progressive vision of humanity within the context of the larger environment. ⁵

Humanism and Technology: Opportunities and Challenges,

through its layered discussion, seeks to make explicit the dynamics of technological advancement suggested by organizations such as, for instance, American Humanist Association and American Atheists, Inc. Also, it is intended to do so in a way that provides useful information for addressing the technological concerns of importance to organizations like The Institute for Science and Human Values, which seeks to enhance “human values and scientific inquiry” ⁶ and does so based on professional expertise weighed in the direction of the “natural” sciences.

This brief charting of the issue is not to suggest other organizations and individuals fail to recognize the significance of technological advancement; nor is it to argue perspectives currently in vogue fail to note the importance of layered analysis. Instead, this volume seeks to further focus the discussion of humanism and technology, and to do so in a way that is meant for an audience well beyond the membership of a particular organization or even humanists in a fixed sense. Those organizations named here are just the start of humanist and atheist communities who might find useful the discussion this book entails. But, not limited to those who advocate a particular humanist perspective on life, this book is also meant to provide food for thought and useful strategies for a general readership concerned with the nature and meaning of life in a scientifically advanced and technologically creative context.

Authors in this volume do not assume what they write is the final word, but taken as a whole—mindful of the international range of perspectives, the numerous disciplinary perspectives (covering the “natural” sciences, social sciences, and humanities), and the social locations from which the contributors speak—the book you read offers an important contribution to current thinking on the nature and meaning of (human) life within the context of technology’s impact on the world.

Structuring the Content

In terms of its outline, Humanism and Technology is arranged in light of key thematic structures associated with the two-day discussion noted above, and that naturally emerged when the presentations were revised and read across each other. While the contributors represent a variety of perspectives and hold to a range of ways to define technology, some common concerns do surface, all with implications for the public presentation and public meaning of humanist sensibilities.

Needless to say, there are numerous ways this volume could have been structured, but I have selected to arrange it in light of two themes: “Humans Through Technology” and “Humans Using Technology.” Roughly described, the first entails attention to the ways in which humans are defined, shaped, and arranged in light of technological advances—as well as the moral considerations implicit in such developments. In a word, the chapters in this first section of the book concern themselves with the meaning of the human in light of technology as well as the nature of life and well-being related to technology. The second section explores ways in which technology is employed, or ways in which technology shapes human activity and practice. Within these two sections, the chapters are placed in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name.

“Human Through Technology”

In Chap. 1, Willem Drees takes up the consequences and connotations of technology, recognizing that “we live with inventions that have changed our world.” However, what is one to make of these developments? Mindful of this question, Drees asserts a humanist take on technology requires a synergistic relationship between morality and technology. That is to say, the value of life must always guide the manipulation of life possibilities vis-à-vis technological advances. Undergirding this linking of ideals and “industry” is the recognition “we live,” as he puts it, “in a technological culture,” whereby he understands technology as not devices and other “manifestations” of knowledge advancement but rather as a more complex construction of being in the form of a “social system.” And, this system marks out an approach that sees frameworks of problems and solutions as the basic matrix of life. Hence, there is no “outside” position over against technology from which to assess the shifts and alterations influencing and informing the nature and meaning of human life. Will technology, so conceived, hamper human relationships (to other humans and to the world) or enhance these connections? Will humans push too far the nature and meaning of life by means of technology? Answering these questions so as to preserve their moral implications involves, for Drees, attention to the humanities. This turn to the often forgotten academic disciplines is vital in that “reflection on human self-understanding” helps us understand the “human actors” developing technology and the manner in which such development and use of what is created is human.

In Chap. 2, William Grassie wrestles with technological developments that mark out the potentialities of transhumanism and posthumanism. That is to say, what is to be made of the human within humanism in light of efforts to trouble if not transcend that category of life? Furthermore, what is to be made of the push toward a “trans-biological and post-biological civilization”? Such possibilities of existence, which might be on the horizon, raise questions concerning what is even meant by the designation of “human.” What modalities of life do that conceptual framework and its guiding language and grammar capture, and are they grounded in the plausibility of technological possibilities over against human will, as artificial intelligence will not be bound to human overlords? Beside such moral and ethical considerations, Grassie argues there is also the practical question of achievability. Is, for instance, the cyborg more than fantasy captured on the large or small screen? Such questions are the concern of this chapter, and the answers provided seek to modify expectation for a transhuman world in light of the “epistemic limits to technoscience” and the inevitability of change that will impact “our species and its distinct modes of cultural and technological evolution,” as Grassie puts it. And, with respect to posthumanism, we are already posthuman in light of our knowledge base and our inability to significantly affect “the evolutionary scale of transformation in which we are currently involved.” All this, he argues, has implications for humans and humanism.

In Chap. 3, Monica Miller makes central what is often an implicit dimension of conversation regarding the human in relationship to t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• Part I. Humans <Emphasis Type="Italic">Through</Emphasis> Technology
• Part II. Humans <Emphasis Type="Italic">Using</Emphasis> Technology
• Back Matter