Steve Fuller, "Humanity 2.0: What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future"....ra.. M...ill.. | 2011-11-22 | ISBN: 0230233430, 0230233422 | 280 pages | PDF | 1,1 MB
Social thinkers in all fields are faced with one unavoidable question: what does it mean to be 'human' in the 21st century? As definitions between what is 'animal' and what is 'human' break down, and as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and nano- and bio- technologies develop, accepted notions of humanity are rapidly evolving.
Humanity 2.0 is an ambitious and groundbreaking book, offering a sweeping overview of key historical, philosophical and theological moments that have shaped our understandings of humanity. Tackling head on the twin taboos that have always hovered over the scientific study of humanity - race and religion - Steve Fuller argues thar far from disappearing, they are being reinvented.
Fuller argues that these new developments will force us to decide which features of our current way of life - not least our bodies - are truly needed to remain human, and concludes with a consideration of these changes for ethical and social values more broadly.
"This is a brave and interesting book, which combines discourses that should mutually engage, but normally do not: biological and theological discussions of "humanity", discussions of transhumanism and evolution, and the policy discussions of convergent technology. Connecting them provides an opportunity to rethink the category of the human. Steve Fuller grasps this opportunity with gusto, in an accessible and wide-ranging overview."-- Professor Stephen Turner, University of South Florida, USA
"Humanity 2.0 offers an wide-ranging and timely account of the next stage of technoscience: the development of a new stage of humanity. Fuller bridges the concerns of science studies and science policy, exploring the historical and philosophical currents underlying the creation of a new biotechnological species, and highlights how the technoscientific industrial complex seeks to construct a new humanity as both product and consumer."--Robert Frodeman, Director, Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity, University of North Texas, USA
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