Extropianism is a philosophical school that favors the use of enhancing technologies and of technological advancement, more in general. One of its motivating values is striving to improve the human condition, for example, by extending our life span indefinitely, which modern technology promises to achieve. Extropians, therefore, look favorably on any technology that promises a positive symbiotic relationship with humanity.
Published in Chapter:
A Run for your [Techno]Self
Alessandro Tomasi (Rhode Island College, USA)
Copyright: © 2013
|Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2211-1.ch007
Abstract
This chapter introduces, using a race as an allegory, three competing conceptions of man, or three ideals, in its relationship to technology, namely a non-technological conception of man, a paradigmatic human cyborg, and the model of a man free from organic ties, typified by the android. These theories correspond not only to current trends in the philosophy of technology, but also to the possible paths our epochal technological geist can take at this juncture. The ideal of non-technological purity informs all modern versions of luddism. The hybrid model supports an attitude less concerned about technology’s negative effects and more open to a more or less inevitable meshing of man and machine. Finally, the android is taken to be the end-goal of much of the trans-humanist or post-humanist movement, supporting an attitude of an open and total embrace of anything technological. These ideas of the human-machine relationship are paradigmatically competing in a way that will determine our future sense of identity. The chapter neither indicates nor suggests the winner in this paradigmatic race, but proposes a list of qualities that this winner will have to possess.