BIO
Ciano Aydin is Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Vice-dean (Education) of the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social sciences (BMS) at the University of Twente. Ciano’s research focuses on "existential technology"; he investigates how technologies increasingly shape our identity, impact our freedom and responsibility, and influence different facets of our life. His main areas of interest are philosophy of technology, anthropology, phenomenology, philosophy of mind, and ethics.
TITLE
“Extimate Technology”
ABSTRACT
The view that technology is a mere instrument that enables realizing goals that we have set for ourselves, is becoming obsolete. Technology is becoming ubiquitous and increasingly intruding in our lives, shaping our identity, and “norming” values like freedom and responsibility. Hence, technology is ever-stronger becoming a permanent structure of selfhood, which implies that technology cannot simply be externalized and conceived as an outside factor that can determine or liberate us, nor as something that can destroy or strengthen us. Technology as “other within” is increasingly becoming both the necessary condition for forming a self and, at the same time, an obstacle that prevents it from realizing the autonomous unity and singularity that it seeks. This insight calls for a more sophisticated account of how technology is shaping us, as well as how we would like to be shaped by it. The paradox expressed by the “extimate” character of technology will be illustrated and further analyzed by three cases: smart elderly homes, smart drugs and fMRI. The question that will be addressed in these cases is how it is possible to deliberately and critically accept and integrate (appropriate) particular technologies, acknowledging that they are or have become “another within.”
EVENT
NYU Global Posthuman 2020
Ciano Aydin is Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Vice-dean (Education) of the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social sciences (BMS) at the University of Twente. Ciano’s research focuses on "existential technology"; he investigates how technologies increasingly shape our identity, impact our freedom and responsibility, and influence different facets of our life. His main areas of interest are philosophy of technology, anthropology, phenomenology, philosophy of mind, and ethics.
TITLE
“Extimate Technology”
ABSTRACT
The view that technology is a mere instrument that enables realizing goals that we have set for ourselves, is becoming obsolete. Technology is becoming ubiquitous and increasingly intruding in our lives, shaping our identity, and “norming” values like freedom and responsibility. Hence, technology is ever-stronger becoming a permanent structure of selfhood, which implies that technology cannot simply be externalized and conceived as an outside factor that can determine or liberate us, nor as something that can destroy or strengthen us. Technology as “other within” is increasingly becoming both the necessary condition for forming a self and, at the same time, an obstacle that prevents it from realizing the autonomous unity and singularity that it seeks. This insight calls for a more sophisticated account of how technology is shaping us, as well as how we would like to be shaped by it. The paradox expressed by the “extimate” character of technology will be illustrated and further analyzed by three cases: smart elderly homes, smart drugs and fMRI. The question that will be addressed in these cases is how it is possible to deliberately and critically accept and integrate (appropriate) particular technologies, acknowledging that they are or have become “another within.”
EVENT
NYU Global Posthuman 2020
