Is Our Techo-Human Marriage in Need of Counseling?


Humans have had a complex relationship with technologies since prehistoric times, when tool-making and meat-eating coincided with brain development and greater social complexity. Nowadays, in this age of enhanced body parts and neurochemical mood modulators, humans are flirting with using technologies to transform ourselves from the inside out, as well as the entire planet. The boundaries between human and technology are eroding, rendering concepts such as "natural" and "artificial" increasingly obsolete. During this Future Tense event they discussed what a proper techno-human relationship should look like going forward, one that preserves our human - and humanistic - essence in this age of complexity and technological determinism. Featuring Braden Allenby, Lincoln Professor of Engineering and Ethics Professor of Law, Arizona State University, Co-author, The Techno-Human Condition; Daniel Sarewitz, Professor, Co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes, Arizona State University, Co-author, The Techno-Human Condition; Emily Yoffe, "Dear Prudence" advice columnist, Slate.
Date:
September 14, 2011
Run time:
1:27:45
Categories:
Technology
Location:
New America, Washington, DC
Presented by:
Future Tense and New America