Technology and the Overturning of Human Autonomy (Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, 66)

This book offers an extensive historical, philosophical and ethical discussion on the role of autonomous technologies, and their influence on human identity. By connecting those different perspectives, and analysing some practical case studies, it guides readers to dissect the relationship between machine and human autonomy, and machine and human identity. It analyses how the relationship between human and technology has been evolving in the last few centuries. Last, it aims at proposing an explanation on the reason/s why humans have been keen on developing their own autonomy’s perfect avatar. Acknowledgments Introduction Contents About the Author Part I Technology’s Philosophical Meanings 1 Contemporary Prometheus 1.1 Insights from the Past 1.2 Human Creation of a Technological Divine 1.3 Radical Overturnings 2 First Case in Point: Autonomous Technologies 2.1 Making Technologies Autonomous, Making Humans Automated 2.2 A Case in Point: Autonomous Vehicles 2.3 Autonomous Vehicles and the Moral Machine 2.4 Trading Humans’ Autonomy for Technology’s Automation as Scapegoating 3 Second Case in Point: Self-Tracking Technologies and the Quantified Self 3.1 The Destiny of the Self in Technologies of the Self 3.2 Quantified je ne sais quoi from Health to Happiness 3.3 Radical Particularisation and Anarchism: Crisis of Ideal Models? 3.4 Reshaping Humans’ Core Identity: Trading Autonomy for Automation Part II Challenges of the Future 4 Epistemological Challenges 4.1 Philosophical Questions 4.2 Plausible Scenarios 5 Human Identity’s Challenges 5.1 Philosophical Questions 5.2 Plausible Scenarios 6 Ethical Challenges 6.1 Philosophical Questions 6.2 Plausible Scenarios Conclusion References