The Age of Humachines

Ontocapitalism, Big Tech Dystopia and the Eco-Democratic, Degrowth Alternative

Michael Denis Bagenal Harvey

• Publisher: Interactional Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781068642319
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Environmental Economics
• Index: Economics

"An amazing tour-de-force across science, technology, psychology, political economy and ecology." Professor Fabian Frenzel

"Informative, provocative and inspiring." Professor Andy Stirling

"A milestone in the critical understanding of the Anthropocene." Gerardo Nicoletta

Are we sleepwalking through the biggest unregulated social experiment in human history? The Age of Humachines argues that 21st century growth capitalism has entered a reckless, scientific phase aimed at eliminating the difference between humans and machines. The AI-enabled humanization of machines and mechanization of humans involve a vast array of digital, robotic, genetic, medical, military and industrial technologies which are rapidly transforming everyday life. The techno-utopian vision driving this mechanistic revolution claims it has the solution to every problem. But is Big Tech more likely to take us to an ecologically-ravaged techno-dystopia which spells the death of democracy and equality?

Topics covered include:

•The philosophy, economics and "post-biological" science of 21st century ontocapitalism

•AI, superintelligence and "AImageddon"

•Job automation, social inequality and the surveillance state

•How Big Tech business empires threaten sustainability, democracy and human wellbeing

•The history of technological society

•Automated decision-making in medicine, justice, war and business

•Robot sex, care, parenting and work

•The machine mindset psychology of Silicon Valley's unelected billionaire leadership elite and their CIMENT ideology

•Brain-computer interfacing, artificial organs and personal eugenics

•The "Cyborgoisie" and their transhumanist quest for godlike immortality

But make no mistake; this is a book about hope. Michael D.B. Harvey continues the theme of his path-breaking Utopia in the Anthropocene by showing how degrowth economics, participatory democracy and radical psychology can inspire us to make the best possible choices about the future which is rushing towards us.

Reviews

"The Age of Humachines offers a diagnosis of the tech fetishism of our era, maps the routes being taken by the Big Tech juggernaut, and looks to radical-democratic ways of stopping it before it's too late. Essential reading for our dystopian age." Dr Gareth Dale, Brunel University

"Sweeping in scope, scholarly yet accessible to the layperson, The Age of Humachines is a must-read for all who wonder where high-tech capitalism is taking us... It's different and timeless, grounded in moral philosophy, the meaning of humanity and limits to growth on a finite planet." Brian Czech, author of Supply Shock

"A real change-the-world book! It's an encyclopaedia of the technological threats facing us which also holds out hope for a future based on human ingenuity, creativity, and common sense." Mark Dunhill

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface: Where is Technological Capitalism Taking Us?
• Introduction: The Age of Humachines: Choosing Between Technological Revolutions in the Anthropocene
• Part I: What Is Humachination? Its Corporate Empires, Techno-Utopian Vision and Economic Theory
• Part II: Challenging the Assumptions of the Humachine Age: An Alternative Vision of the Past and the Future
• Part III: Future Risks: How Humachine Capitalism Could Lead Us to Techno-Dystopia
• Part IV: Humachination in Practice I: Humanizing Machines
• Part V: Humachination in Practice II: Mechanizing the Human Brain, Body, Genome and Lifespan
• Part VI: Technocene or Ecocene? The Struggle for the Future
• Epilogue: Our Future, Our Choice
• References
• About the Author
• Acknowledgments
• A Select Glossary
• Index