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Enhancing Machine Nature

From the Myth of the Machine to Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Nonmechanical Machines

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Perfecting Human Futures

Abstract

Our conversations about human enhancement by technological means are premised on an image of technology: what it is, what it can do, by which of its virtues humans can transcend their present condition. This image of technology, however, is not technical but social. Günther Anders pointed out already that how we valorize technology expresses our sense of deficiency or vulnerability and, thus, ex negativo, a conception of a better life, of better humans in a better society (Anders, 1956). Half a century later, Sheila Jasanoff foregrounds sociotechnical imaginaries: all the stories of technological determinism or enablement, including the visionary expectations of emergent technologies, are framed by sociotechnical imaginaries (Jasanoff , 2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Darmstadt, Deutschland

    Alfred Nordmann

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  1. Alfred Nordmann
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Correspondence to Alfred Nordmann .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Biology and Society, Arizona State University, TEMPE, Arizona, USA

    J. Benjamin Hurlbut

  2. Center for Jewish Studies, Arizona State University, TEMPE, USA

    Hava Tirosh-Samuelson

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Nordmann, A. (2016). Enhancing Machine Nature. In: Hurlbut, J., Tirosh-Samuelson, H. (eds) Perfecting Human Futures. Technikzukünfte, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft / Futures of Technology, Science and Society. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-11044-4_10

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