عنوان

The techno-human condition /

(Number (ISBN

0262015692 (hardcover : alk. paper)

(Number (ISBN

9780262015691 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Number

dltt

Title Proper

The techno-human condition /

General Material Designation

[Book]

First Statement of Responsibility

Braden R. Allenby, Daniel Sarewitz.

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Cambridge, Mass. :

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

MIT Press,

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

c2011.

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

xi, 222 p. :

Other Physical Details

ill. ;

Dimensions

21 cm.

Text of Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [211]-216) and index.

Text of Note

Prologue: what a long, transhuman trip it has already been -- In the cause-and-effect zone -- Level I and II technology : effectiveness, progress, and complexity -- Level III technology : radical contingency in earth systems -- Individuality and incomprehensibility -- Complexity, coherence, contingency -- Killer apps -- In front of our nose.

0

Text of Note

"In this latest version of humanity, we are equipped with a fully re-engineered immune system; the latest set of cultural assumptions about gender, ethnicity, and sexuality; and a suite of customized enhancements, including artificial joints, neurochemical mood modulators, and performance-boosting hormones. In The Techno-Human Condition, Braden Allenby and Daniel Sarewitz explore what it means to be human in an era of incomprehensible technological complexity and change. They argue that if we are to have any prospect of managing that complexity, we will need to escape the shackles of current assumptions about rationality, progress, and certainty, even as we maintain a commitment to fundamental human values.

Text of Note

Humans have been co-evolving with their technologies since the dawn of prehistory, when tool making and meat eating co-evolved with brain development and social complexity. What is different now is that we have moved beyond external technological interventions to transform ourselves from the inside out--even as we also remake the Earth system itself. Coping with this new reality, say Allenby and Sarewitz, means liberating ourselves from such categories as "human," "technological," and "natural" to embrace a new techno-human relationship. Describing the- terms of this relationship, and exploring sociotechnical systems ranging from railroads to modern military technology, Allenby and Sarewitz ultimately locate individual authenticity in the quest for a new humility in the face of the rapidly disappearing moorings of the Enlightenment."--pub. desc.

Biotechnology.

Human evolution.

Technology-- Social aspects.

Number

Edition

Class number

Book number

Class number

Allenby, Braden R.

Sarewitz, Daniel R.

Date of Transaction

20120727040209.0

Electronic name

[Book]

Y