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 I IS M
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Studies in Humanism and Atheism

Series Editors

Anthony B. Pinn
Rice University
Houston, Texas, USA

Jürgen Manemann
Universität Erfurt
Katholisch-theologische Fakultät
Erfurt, Thüringen, Germany
Aim of the series
Although numerous scholars and activists have written academic and
popular texts meant to unpack and advocate for humanism and atheism
as life orientations, what is needed at this point is clear and consistent
attention to the various dimensions of humanist and atheist thought
and practice. This is the type of focused agenda that this book series
makes possible. Committed to discussions that include but extend well
beyond the United States, books in the series—meant for specialists
and a general readership—offer new approaches to and innovative
discussions of humanism and atheism that take into consideration the
socio-cultural, political, economic, and religious dynamics informing
life in the twenty-first century.

More information about this series at

http://www.springer.com/series/15125
 Anthony B. Pinn
Editor

Humanism and
Technology
Opportunities and Challenges
Editor
Anthony B. Pinn
Rice University
Houston, Texas, USA

Studies in Humanism and Atheism

ISBN 978-3-319-31713-7 ISBN 978-3-319-31714-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31714-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016957733

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Cover image © Andrey Kuzmin / Alamy Stock Photo

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland
Dedicated to Lou Altman
 FOREWORD

Reflecting on the relation of humanism and technology today, we

realize that we are considering a technology that has long broken away
from the ancient technical understanding in terms of tool use. Where
this technology could still be regarded as a unity of technology and
nature, at present, we are confronted with technologies that at first
glance rather seem to represent a discontinuity between nature and
technology. It is first and foremost these technologies we are deeply
concerned about. Those, who in respect to novel technologies, are
asserting their impact on the human being, say in the field of genetics
and robotics, are challenged to question their very own self-conception.
On the one hand, new technologies create new horizons, which we, as
“non-fixed animal(s)” (F. Nietzsche), may hardly withdraw from. On the
other hand, once bitten, we are well aware that the technology fathered
by us bears potentials to develop a life of its own. This technology
may threaten mankind, may not be taken control of any longer by
the human or will even be abused by a few as an instrument of power
for manipulating others. To what extend do we want the technology
created by us to change who we are?
These questions in turn invite anthropological reflection. Humanism
and anthropology are closely connected for it was the humanist Pico
de Mirandola, who, in the Renaissance, put the human being in the
center of consideration. As he introduces his “Oration on the Dignity
of Man” with the celebrated exclamation by Hermes Trismegistus, “‘A
great miracle, Asclepius, is man.’” Then he continues:

vii
viii FOREWORD

“At last the best of artisans ordained that that creature to whom He had
been able to give nothing proper to himself should have joint possession
of whatever had been peculiar to each of the different kinds of being. He
therefore took man as a creature of indeterminate nature and, assigning him
a place in the middle of the world, addressed him thus:
‘Neither a fixed abode nor a form that is thine alone nor any function
peculiar to thyself have we given thee, Adam, to the end that according to
thy longing and according to thy judgement thou mayest have and posses
what abode, what form, an what functions thou thyself shalt desire. The
nature of all other beings is limited and constrained within the bounds of
laws prescribed by US. Thou, constrained by no limits, in accordance with
thine own free will, in whose hand We have placed thee, shalt ordain for
thyself the limits of thy nature. We have set thee at the world’s center that
thou mayest from thence more easily observe whatever is in the world. We
have made thee neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal,
so that with freedom of choice and with honor, as though the maker and
molder of thyself, thou mayest fashion thyself in whatever shape thou shalt
prefer. Thou shalt have the power to degenerate into the lower forms of life,
which are brutish. Thou shalt have the power, out of thy soul’s judgement,
to be reborn into the higher forms, which are divine.’”1

This is where a humanistically oriented anthropology will begin asking

for the relation between humanism and technology. By beginning like
that, anybody would be aware of the fact that there is a variety of options
indeed but nevertheless would not underestimate the challenges it poses
either. By asking this way, a confrontation with the challenges that trans-
as well as posthumanism pose is inevitable as is a confrontation with
the disparities that may arise by novel technologies since no technology
is neutral. Humans experience pleasure when being creative. Though
this pleasure must not be experienced at the expense of others. Risk
assessment of technologies in particular shall hence always consider the
voices of those concerned. Those asking these questions, those irritated
by these questions are well-advised to read the contributions in this
volume. They will not just help scrutinizing these questions. They will
assist the reader with finding their very own answers.
We are in need of future technologies not alienating humans from
nature: gentle technologies – these are foremost technical innovations
adapting to the natural processes. Gentle technology stands for learning
from nature without exploiting nature. It is our responsibility to
ambitiously work on a gentle and human technology. Humanism targets
 FOREWORD ix

a human technology, one that not only protects humans from nature’s
forces but supports humans to release new potentials and create new
rooms of freedom for themselves, in which they may however only come
true in a way that does not threaten other human beings’ and other
beings’ right to life.

Hannover, March 2016 Jürgen Manemann

NOTE
1. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Oration on the Dignity of Man , in: E.
Cassirer et al. (Ed.), The Renaissance of Philosophy of Man, Chicago
(University of Chicago Press) 1948, 224/225.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many individuals have helped bring this process to completion, and I thank
them all. In particular, thanks to my editor at Palgrave Macmillan, Philip
Getz, for his hard work and patience. My co-editor Jürgen Manemann
for his much-needed insight and perspective throughout the processing
and publication of this book. In addition, I thank the members of the
Institute for Humanist Studies board of directors for encouragement and
support with this project and the other responsibilities associated with my
role as director of research for the Institute. Much of the preparation for
getting the manuscript ready for submission was undertaken by one of my
graduate students, Mark De Young. Thank you, Mark. As always, I thank
my family and friends for all their good wishes and good humor.

xi
 CONTENTS

1 Introduction 1
Anthony B. Pinn

Part I Humans Through Technology 13

2 Humans, Humanities, and Humanism

in an Age of Technology 15
Willem B. Drees

3 Which Humanist Are You? Reflections

on Our Trans- and Posthumanity 31
William Grassie

4 E-Racing Identity? Black Bodies On and Off

the Technological (Chopping) Block 55
Monica R. Miller

5 Approach to the Singularity: The Road to Ruin,

or the Path to Salvation? 75
Clay Farris Naff

xiii
xiv CONTENTS

Part II Humans Using Technology 97

6 A Humanist Evaluation of Substantial Life Extension

Through Biomedical Research and Technology 99
Peter Derkx

7 Technological Progress and Pious Modernity:

Secular Liberals Fall Behind the Times 123
Taner Edis

8 Mad Science or School-to-Prison? 143

Sikivu Hutchinson

9 Tailoring Biotechnologies: A Humanist Perspective? 159

Guido Ruivenkamp

10 Books and Beyond: The Importance of Story

in the Digital Age 187
Kurt Volkan

Contributors 207

Bibliography 211

Index 235
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Anthony B. Pinn

Implicit in virtually any discussion of humanism—its nature, meaning, and

future—is concern with the manner in which human life is structured,
marked off, and measured. That is to say, to speak of humanism is to speak
about a particular metaphysics, a certain framing of what the human is
(ontology) and the nature and content of what humans know (epistemol-
ogy). Embedded in this framing of humanism is a simple, but far from
simplistic, question: what are the possibilities for human life within a con-
text of ongoing deep alteration; and, what might humanism say about and
contribute to these possibilities? One of the compelling contexts for this
question is technology, particularly as it relates to the human’s ability to
alter the quality, length, depth, and general tone and texture of human life.

SETTING CONTEXT
Technology: Tekˈnäləjē/Tech·nol·o·gy. Technological advances. Technological
developments. Technological enhanced injustice.

A.B. Pinn
Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning, Rice University,
Houston, TX, USA

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 1

A.B. Pinn (ed.), Humanism and Technology, Studies in Humanism
and Atheism, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31714-4_1
2 A.B. PINN

How many movies in recent years have explored technology as responsible

for intensified “natural” disasters? Or, how many movies have presented human
ability to produce technological projects that blur the distinction between
human and machine? For good or ill, movies such as Her and Transcendence,
for example, have probed on one hand what it means to be human and what
might (or might not) constitute uniquely human configurations of relation-
ship, emotional attachment, and psychological mutuality. And, on the other
hand, they have brought up as a necessary dimension of public conversation
the ability of humans to achieve Singularity—a somewhat seamless blending
of human and machine in such a way as to alter fundamentally what can be
meant by anthropology and engineering.
Granted, Her doesn’t involve a concern with the blending of machine
and human in a strict sense, but rather it speaks to the ability of machines
to “learn” so as to offer an intimate—deep emotional, psychological,
and physical—connection that replaces such connection with biological
human bodies. Written by Spike Jonze, the movie pushes audiences to
think about the human’s relationship to technology produced, and the
way in which this technology might constitute new modalities of rela-
tionship. Can humans love machines? Really love machines?1 Of course,
there are technological advances meant to hide the “metallic” nature of
machines through artificial skin, and so on, but Her explores the ability to
forge emotional connection and intimacy without the effort to shift the
appearance of the machine.
Wally Pfister and Jack Paglen’s Transcendence, on the other hand,
doesn’t seek to explore the ability of human and machine to develop emo-
tional attachment along the lines of love. Instead, it explores the ability
of the human to end mortality, to extend life through Singularity—the
unification of technology and human in ways that make the body (as bio-
chemical reality and as discursive construction) unnecessary for expansion
of knowledge and existence. It is something of a cautionary tale; yet, it
suggests quest for immortality and perfect knowledge is unavoidable and
connected to our most basic yearnings.2
In addition to Her and Transcendence, there are films that chroni-
cle environmental destruction on various scales resulting from human
machines and the technologies that guide them. Whether it be super
storms played out on the large screen, sobering depictions of climate
change via thoughtful documentaries, or retelling of current events for
mass consumption on Twitter or Facebook, the impact of technology on
 INTRODUCTION 3

the world and the (human) life supported by this world is a topic of deep
concern to the popular imagination of a global community.
I mention these films not because this book is focused on popular
depictions of technology and humanity—although cultural expression
is taken up at certain points. These references do not capture the full
scope of technology, nor the various approaches and response to techno-
logical advancement. No, I briefly note them as examples of a growing
and important discussion of the nature and meaning of the human over
and against what the human is able to generate through the application
of scientific knowledge (read technology). That is to say, they serve as
cases of the ongoing debate regarding the intersections of humanity and
technology.
Furthermore, the above comments are meant to point to the impor-
tance of technology (and conversations regarding technology) for any
understanding of the nature and meaning of humanism—to the extent,
humanism has anything to do with humanity. The significance of tech-
nological development for humanism is heightened when one considers
the degree to which the cartography of human existence is framed by
advances that shift the human’s relationship to herself, to others, to the
world, and to the metaphysical questions and concerns undergirding such
connections. What does humanism mean in our current age of technologi-
cal development? What can humanism say to and about such advances?

THINKING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Mindful of the importance of such questions, the Institute for Humanist
Studies gathered a diverse group to think together concerning various
dimensions of the intersections between humanity and technology. This
group represented the USA and Europe, involved thinkers with differing
connections to (and understandings of) humanism, and entailed different
professional approaches to the very question of humanism.
As is the Institute’s practice, over the course of two days, each invitee pre-
sented a paper on some dimension of the general theme—“Humanism and
Technology”—and the papers were followed by conversation. Energetic at
times, these discussions pointed out key considerations and blended opti-
mism regarding how technological advance might improve human life,
with a degree of caution concerning harm technology might not address
adequately and modes of destruction it might actually promote.
4 A.B. PINN

The general goal of the two-day meeting was to provide information,

perspective, and opinions that might help a general audience (composed of
those interested in, if not devoted to, humanism) think through the impli-
cations of technology for humanism in particular and human life in more
general terms. Addressing such issues is an important dimension of the
Institute for Humanist Studies agenda and, in a more general sense, speaks
to the concerns of humanist (and atheist) organizations despite elements
of programmatic and ideological disagreement. Humans and the implica-
tions of their technological advances tend to cut across, in some forms,
political tensions within “the” non-theistic movement(s). For instance,
“Singularity,” or in a more general sense, the blurring of significant distinc-
tions between human and human creations, is understood across a range
of non-theistic lines of organizing, emphasis, and objectives. While not
phrased explicitly, doesn’t the American Atheists, Inc., aim to “promote the
study of the arts and sciences and of all problems affecting the maintenance,
perpetuation, and enrichment of human (and other) life”3 speak to the
challenges and potentialities of technological advance? Furthermore, think
in terms of “Humanist Manifesto III” and its connection to the American
Humanist Association. This document, often referenced by members of
the American Humanist Association for clarity on particular issues and ide-
als, has the following to say concerning technology. “Knowledge of the
world,” it states, “is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational
analysis. Humanists find that science is the best method for determining
this knowledge as well as for solving problems and developing beneficial
technologies.”4 Such a statement shadows, if it doesn’t beg, the question of
technological advancement addressed by chapters in this volume.
In other words, thinking publically about technology and humanity is
a vital dimension of the ongoing relevance of humanism. Failure on this
front might constitute a stumbling block for humanism’s ongoing signifi-
cance in geographies marked by growing communities of those without
“religious” affiliation. Put differently,

the point is to foster open and honest reflection on and seek to address any
barriers that prevent humanism from fulfilling its potential as an agent of
human growth, human health, and advancement. In this way, humanism is
brought more fully into the public arena and known for its ability to provide
significant insight and strategies much needed at this point in human history.
Necessary is advocacy for humanism as a means by which to develop strate-
gies and structures (of knowledge and activism) equipped to advance a pro-
gressive vision of humanity within the context of the larger environment.5
 INTRODUCTION 5

Humanism and Technology: Opportunities and Challenges, through its lay-

ered discussion, seeks to make explicit the dynamics of technological advance-
ment suggested by organizations such as, for instance, American Humanist
Association and American Atheists, Inc. Also, it is intended to do so in a way
that provides useful information for addressing the technological concerns
of importance to organizations like The Institute for Science and Human
Values, which seeks to enhance “human values and scientific inquiry”6 and
does so based on professional expertise weighed in the direction of the “natu-
ral” sciences.
This brief charting of the issue is not to suggest other organizations
and individuals fail to recognize the significance of technological advance-
ment; nor is it to argue perspectives currently in vogue fail to note the
importance of layered analysis. Instead, this volume seeks to further focus
the discussion of humanism and technology, and to do so in a way that is
meant for an audience well beyond the membership of a particular orga-
nization or even humanists in a fixed sense. Those organizations named
here are just the start of humanist and atheist communities who might
find useful the discussion this book entails. But, not limited to those who
advocate a particular humanist perspective on life, this book is also meant
to provide food for thought and useful strategies for a general readership
concerned with the nature and meaning of life in a scientifically advanced
and technologically creative context.
Authors in this volume do not assume what they write is the final word,
but taken as a whole—mindful of the international range of perspectives,
the numerous disciplinary perspectives (covering the “natural” sciences,
social sciences, and humanities), and the social locations from which the
contributors speak—the book you read offers an important contribution
to current thinking on the nature and meaning of (human) life within the
context of technology’s impact on the world.

STRUCTURING THE CONTENT

In terms of its outline, Humanism and Technology is arranged in light
of key thematic structures associated with the two-day discussion noted
above, and that naturally emerged when the presentations were revised
and read across each other. While the contributors represent a variety of
perspectives and hold to a range of ways to define technology, some com-
mon concerns do surface, all with implications for the public presentation
and public meaning of humanist sensibilities.
6 A.B. PINN

Needless to say, there are numerous ways this volume could have
been structured, but I have selected to arrange it in light of two themes:
“Humans Through Technology” and “Humans Using Technology.”
Roughly described, the first entails attention to the ways in which humans
are defined, shaped, and arranged in light of technological advances—as
well as the moral considerations implicit in such developments. In a word,
the chapters in this first section of the book concern themselves with the
meaning of the human in light of technology as well as the nature of life
and well-being related to technology. The second section explores ways
in which technology is employed, or ways in which technology shapes
human activity and practice. Within these two sections, the chapters are
placed in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name.

“Human Through Technology”

In Chap. 1, Willem Drees takes up the consequences and connota-
tions of technology, recognizing that “we live with inventions that have
changed our world.” However, what is one to make of these devel-
opments? Mindful of this question, Drees asserts a humanist take on
technology requires a synergistic relationship between morality and tech-
nology. That is to say, the value of life must always guide the manipula-
tion of life possibilities vis-à-vis technological advances. Undergirding
this linking of ideals and “industry” is the recognition “we live,” as he
puts it, “in a technological culture,” whereby he understands technol-
ogy as not devices and other “manifestations” of knowledge advance-
ment but rather as a more complex construction of being in the form
of a “social system.” And, this system marks out an approach that sees
frameworks of problems and solutions as the basic matrix of life. Hence,
there is no “outside” position over against technology from which to
assess the shifts and alterations influencing and informing the nature and
meaning of human life. Will technology, so conceived, hamper human
relationships (to other humans and to the world) or enhance these con-
nections? Will humans push too far the nature and meaning of life by
means of technology? Answering these questions so as to preserve their
moral implications involves, for Drees, attention to the humanities. This
turn to the often forgotten academic disciplines is vital in that “reflection
on human self-understanding” helps us understand the “human actors”
developing technology and the manner in which such development and
use of what is created is human.
 INTRODUCTION 7

In Chap. 2, William Grassie wrestles with technological developments

that mark out the potentialities of transhumanism and posthumanism.
That is to say, what is to be made of the human within humanism in light
of efforts to trouble if not transcend that category of life? Furthermore,
what is to be made of the push toward a “trans-biological and post-bio-
logical civilization”? Such possibilities of existence, which might be on the
horizon, raise questions concerning what is even meant by the designa-
tion of “human.” What modalities of life do that conceptual framework
and its guiding language and grammar capture, and are they grounded in
the plausibility of technological possibilities over against human will, as
artificial intelligence will not be bound to human overlords? Beside such
moral and ethical considerations, Grassie argues there is also the practical
question of achievability. Is, for instance, the cyborg more than fantasy
captured on the large or small screen? Such questions are the concern of
this chapter, and the answers provided seek to modify expectation for a
transhuman world in light of the “epistemic limits to technoscience” and
the inevitability of change that will impact “our species and its distinct
modes of cultural and technological evolution,” as Grassie puts it. And,
with respect to posthumanism, we are already posthuman in light of our
knowledge base and our inability to significantly affect “the evolutionary
scale of transformation in which we are currently involved.” All this, he
argues, has implications for humans and humanism.
In Chap. 3, Monica Miller makes central what is often an implicit
dimension of conversation regarding the human in relationship to tech-
nology—race. Miller highlights the manner in which technology serves
as practices of both visibility and invisibility allowing for protest and also
for dehumanization and racial animosity. Through this duality of func-
tion, she urges the “highlighting and holding in tension the simultane-
ous limits and possibilities” and in this way, “allows us to affirmatively
mark the humanizing efforts of technology and technological manipula-
tion while also animating the ideological dangers of such human uses.”
Perceiving technology as a modality of communication, and using four
case studies, she explores the ways in which such practices of commu-
nication have “virtually mediated” black bodies—rendering them both
present and disappeared. So, by this analysis, Miller points out the medi-
ated and malleable—coded—nature of identity/identities. So consid-
ered, a keen assertion—one funneled through a turn to hip-hop—is
possible. “The complexity of the sort of solidarity and trouble afforded
by technology for the presence/absence of marginalized bodies,” writes
8 A.B. PINN

Miller, “highlights the two-ness and dangers of technology turning into

a technological chopping block.” What is more, the process continues to
code “online” and “offline.”
In the final chapter of the first section (Chap. 4), Clay Naff offers a dis-
cussion of artificial intelligence, with a keen focus on what it might mean
for issues of social justice in the USA. Will it advance equality and opportu-
nity, or will it further reify inequality and other discriminatory patterns and
thereby truncate what it means for certain communities to be understood
as human communities? Through such questions, Naff gets at the nature
of the human, the importance of particular humans, in a world marked by
technological advance. In short, Naff works through the intersections of
morality and technology. Drawing on examples such as the technologi-
cal advance known as the printing press, Naff argues technology has the
potential to even the socio-political playing field by offering information
to more than just a privileged class. Still, such advances also have the real
potential to spread dehumanizing ideas and ideals just as easily as life-
affirming notions spread via new machines and platforms for knowledge.
Technology cuts two ways and, according to Naff, only critical analysis and
development will push advances in a life-affirming and equality-generating
direction. This is the general state of affairs, and artificial intelligence (AI)
must be understood in light of this tension between progress and oppres-
sion—the potential for humans to enhance life but also truncate life by
accelerating various modalities of want and harm. Ultimately, he lands in
favor of a pursuit for Singularity in that “civilization is the cradle of human-
ism,” Naff writes, “and a civilization-scale disaster may indeed be immi-
nent. The pursuit of a superintelligence may be our best chance to avert it.”

Humans Using Technology

At the start of the second section, Peter Derkx, in Chap. 5, turns attention
to the implications of technological advances for the extension of human
life, and offers a humanist take on the issue. He moves through numerous
possibilities including “arrested senescence” and “extended morbidity,”
before highlighting “compressed morbidity” by means of which he intends
to describe the slowing down of the effects of aging on the physical body.
With this third option, Derkx notes a creative tension between healthy years
and long years, whereby the former is given priority. What good is a long
life if it isn’t a matter of years relatively free of disease and pain? The final
option is “rejuvenation” which involves fixing the damage done by aging
 INTRODUCTION 9

in ways that extend and improve one’s years. This chapter focuses on the
last two possibilities—compression of morbidity and rejuvenation. Viewed
through humanism, these technological correctives to the damage done by
living, he asserts commitment to human dignity, and other life-affirming
values, means having little choice but to address the extension of life. Still,
it, humanism, must do so in ways that are mindful of the need to address
longstanding social barriers to equality and hence to the significant (but
economically costly) benefits of technological advances only for some. Yet,
considering the cost and the host of restrictions to the basic elements of life,
Derkx concludes, “the issue of priorities is crucial. In this context substan-
tial life extension through very expensive biomedical research and ensuring
technology certainly ought not to be the number 1 priority for humanists.”
In the second chapter of this section, Taner Edis explores ambivalence
toward technological advances by turning attention to secular liberals and
their relationship to such issues in Chap. 6. Noting the benefits of techno-
logical developments, he poses a question: “Our technological prowess,”
Edis reflects, “also enables destructive frenzies, such as the world wars of
the twentieth century. This inspires second thoughts: what does it mean
to achieve technical progress when we also acquire an almost boundless
capacity for harm?” By extension, what is a working “notion of moral
progress” robust and flexible enough to guide perspective on the nature
and meaning of technology for life as well as framing an understanding of
who benefits from advances? Answers to such questions have been cast in
not only conservative ways but also liberal ways—both with consequences
that make it difficult to assume too optimistic a perspective regarding the
outcomes of technology. If, Edis argues, humanist values and ideals are
to push forward such will require work in line with the politics of life—
not the assumption humans can ride the wave of technological advance.
Perhaps politics, not technology, will equalize life options.
Next, in Chap. 7, Sikivu Hutchinson steps back from defining technol-
ogy and its impact on people in order to center conversation on who gets to
do science and to produce technology. The answer to who gets to do science
and produce technology, she argues, typically excludes African Americans
in general and African American women in particular. Hutchinson goes
back to the classroom as a key point in a genealogy of racialized and gen-
dered scientific professionalization. Prioritizing access to science educa-
tion that makes possible contributions to the advancement of technology,
Hutchinson notes and challenges assumptions concerning the inability of
African American women to do noteworthy work in STEM (i.e., science,
10 A.B. PINN

technology, engineering, and mathematics). This she does by first exposing

the social codes that support this false assumption. “It’s no revelation that
mainstream American representations of codes scientific discovery, scien-
tific genius, tech innovation, heroism and rationality as a bastion of white
meritocracy,” writes Hutchinson. And she continues, “when youth of color
see scientists, engineers and technology professionals in mainstream film,
TV or advertising they are typically lone wolf, trailblazing bullet proof-
Einstein white males.” This is because “the dominant culture codes hero-
ism, scientific discovery, scientific genius, and rationality as white.” Instead
of these endeavors marked off for whites, Hutchinson notes the manner in
which the prison system is primed to warehouse black bodies. Humanists,
according to Hutchinson, while advocates for science and technology have
failed to give sufficient attention to the racism and sexism embedded in
the availability of both as career options for African American women and
men. Changing the “look” of science and technology requires a challeng-
ing of social codes, and the concerted effort of humanists whose concern
with science education and technological growth must include solid work
to expand the “look” of those groomed for the work—putting them in
classrooms and labs rather than prison cells.
The discussion then shifts as Guido Ruivenkamp, in Chap. 8, concerns
himself with interrogation of the relationship of the human to technology:
what does this relationship mean in terms of the human’s connection to
the rest of the natural environment? But more to the point, Ruivenkamp
is concerned to discuss the “possibilities for a humanization of biotech-
nology development.” After unpacking the context for biotechnology
around the various debates and understandings of technology at play,
Ruivenkamp argues the way forward entails tackling the “unequal power
relations inscribed in agro/food biotechnologies” and the “rewriting” of
“embodied political content that biotechnological artifacts contain.” That
is to say, he seeks to foster a compelling praxis (a humanizing) of agro-
food biotechnologies by interrogating and rewriting the codes (i.e., social
sensibilities and cultural patterns) and political arrangements that shape
such technology as it is always and already influenced and informed by the
cultural worlds in which we live.
The final chapter, in Chap. 9, is by Kurt Volkan, and it explores how tech-
nological advances inform and influence the ways in which information con-
cerning humanism is presented and made available to the general public. He
does this giving primary attention to the expression of humanist ideas and
ideals via book publishing and related digital platforms. The various platforms
 INTRODUCTION 11

for developing and sharing information are unprecedented, and “with this
information flowing across the globe in the blink of an eye,” writes Volkan, “a
war of ideas is being waged on incalculable fronts, all across the Internet, at
every moment of every day.” All this prompts a question for him: “how can
any message—let alone the humanist one—rise above the unprecedented level
of competing noise and connect with society at large?” The answer involves
a compelling combination of the “quality of the message” and strategies for
providing it “across all forms of media,” and this duality of engagement may
not produce “best sellers” and millions of hits for particular posts and blogs,
but it can entail effective use of technology to share ideas. If humanism is
going to spread its message, according to Volkan, humanist organizations
and individuals will need to recognize and utilize technological devices and
advances related to media platforms. For instance, “a book’s story” must
“scale across all varieties of media platforms—whether as a thumbnail cover
image, a 140-character tweet, a Facebook post, a 750 word op-ed or blog
post,” and so on. All in all, according to Volkan, books and their content
continue to matter, but now they matter across a variety of delivery platforms.

***

Humanism and Technology by means of these nine chapters, is a thought

experiment of sorts that might prove useful for humanists and non-human-
ists, individuals and organizations, concerned with the manner in which
the realities of technological advancement play out and what humanism
might offer to our understanding of such shifts in knowledge and capabil-
ity. In a sense, these pages offer a sober and humanistic interrogation of
progress—its defining benefits, its dangers, and its relationship to the very
nature and meaning of the human animal.

NOTES
1. http://www.herthemovie.com/#/about
2. http://www.transcendencemovie.com/
3. http://atheists.org/about-us/aims-and-purposes?
4. http://americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III
5. This is drawn from the Institute for Humanist Studies vision statement, drafted
by Anthony Pinn and approved in April 2010, by the Institute Board of Director.
6. http://instituteforscienceandhumanvalues.com/
 PART I

Humans Through Technology

 CHAPTER 2

Humans, Humanities, and Humanism

in an Age of Technology

Willem B. Drees

Harry Potter’s world as described by J.K. Rowling in a series of books for

children is not the world of us, ordinary humans.1 Owls delivering letters
overnight would be handy. Howling letters that criticize their recipients in
public might be embarrassing. In the Harry Potter books, some humans

I am grateful to Anthony Pinn and colleagues of the Institute for Humanist

Studies for inviting me to a symposium on humanism and technology at Rice
University, Houston, November 14–16, 2014. The research project “What Can
the Humanities Contribute to our Practical Self-Understanding?” funded by
the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, NWO, has been a fertile
context for the development of ideas presented here. Various elements in this
contribution build upon earlier work of mine, especially on technology as culture
(“Religion in an Age of Technology,” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 37
(2002): 597–604; “‘Playing God? Yes!’ Religion in the Light of Technology,”
Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 37 (2002): 643–654); the character of the
humanities (Naked Ape or Techno Sapiens? The Relevance of Human humanities,
inaugural address, Tilburg University, 2005; http://www.drees.nl/wp-content/
uploads/2015/01/150008_oratie_prof_Drees_web.pdf), and on religious and
non-religious views of life (Religion and Science in Context: A Guide to the Debates,
2010), Chap. 4).

W.B. Drees
Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 15

A.B. Pinn (ed.), Humanism and Technology, Studies in Humanism
and Atheism, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31714-4_2
16 W.B. DREES

cross species boundaries when they transform themselves into dogs, rats,
cats, and other animals. There is a map that shows in real time where in
Hogwarts everyone is. We poor muggles have to be satisfied with the
world of Dudley Dursley, haven’t we?
Do we? Upon closer inspection, our world has as much magic as Harry’s.
No owls delivering spoken letters, but small objects called “telephones”
allow us to talk with loved ones thousands of miles away. Spoken e-mails
may well be next year’s novelties. We scan brains and can intentionally
change our mood pharmacologically. Crossing species’ boundaries by sur-
gically integrating “spare parts” from pigs into humans, xenotransplanta-
tion, is on the horizon (though the pigs wouldn’t consider them spare
parts). A map that shows in real time the whereabouts of our children may
be expected soon. Virtual reality is a reality. Civil engineering, medical
technology, pharmacology, the World Wide Web: we live with inventions
that have changed our world.
These developments are changing ourselves as well, our culture, our
identity, our hopes, and nightmares. Life’s challenges are approached in
a technological mood, as problems to be solved. But we are ambivalent
about technology; will it be the end of human creativity and freedom?
In this chapter, I will reflect on technological culture, on humans in an
age of technology, and on the humanities, the academic disciplines that
consider human self-expressions in our time. In this context, I will argue
that in a humanist orientation technology and morality should be thought
together, to serve the human potential for action.

A TECHNOLOGICAL CULTURE
Before we come to reflect upon human self-understanding and the
humanities in an age of technology, let us reflect briefly upon technology.
Technology is not just tools, gadgets, and machines. We live in a techno-
logical culture.

Dimensions of Technology
When speaking about technology, most people at first refer to devices such
as the telephone, the car, and the refrigerator. We live with technologi-
cal artifacts. These devices cannot function without infrastructure. Think
of the telephone network, electricity, and gas stations, and behind those,
more infrastructure: refineries, ships and pipelines, oil wells. There the
 HUMANS, HUMANITIES, AND HUMANISM IN AN AGE OF TECHNOLOGY 17

sequence ends, as the oil deep down in the ground is not itself a product
of human technological activity.
“Devices” and “infrastructure” are the material manifestation of tech-
nology, but infrastructure is also organization. Technology is a social sys-
tem, for the kind of actions it requires and for the services it provides. And
technology depends on skills, and thus on educational systems. Highly
technical medical disciplines such as surgery are certainly also about tech-
nical skills of the humans involved, but skills are involved for ordinary
people as well; driving a car is a technical skill. The need for proper skills
shows up clearly when young children teach their parents how to use a
smart phone; the young ones are technologically native, having learned
the skills just like they learned walking, whereas many older persons have
to acquire relevant skills by instruction and effort.
So far, I have referred to two “layers” of technology: its material mani-
festations in devices and infrastructure, and its social dimension as orga-
nization and skills. There is a third layer: we can also consider particular
attitudes “technological.” It refers to a way of life in which a problem,
whether a leaking roof, illness, or miscommunication, is not accepted as a
fact of life, but rather seen as a problem to be addressed. An activist atti-
tude, sitting down to analyze a problem in order to solve it by practical
means, is part of our lives. This is to us so self-evident, that we may find it
hard to understand cultures in which a tragic or fatalistic attitude is more
common. The “technological attitude” brings us to a major existential
question: How do we see human action in relation to the wider under-
standing of reality? When do we accept our fate and our limitations? When
do we seek to change the situation?
We live in a technological culture. Technology is not a separate segment
of our lives, but it pervades and shapes our lives, it is the world in which
we live. Antibiotics and sewage systems changed the sense of vulnerabil-
ity, reducing in the Western world significantly the number of parents
who had to bury their own infants. Oral contraceptives changed relations
between men and women and between parents and their children. The
philosopher Albert Borgmann offered a pessimistic view, as new technolo-
gies undermine communal life and individual effort.2 Thanks to the refrig-
erator and the microwave, we can eat whenever it suits us, individually, and
each according to his or her taste, and thus the common meal as a major
characteristic of the day has lost significance. Central heating has made
the common room with the fireplace less important; we can each spend
our time in our own rooms in the way we like. Music is available without
18 W.B. DREES

effort on my side. Technology, as Borgmann sees it, fosters individualism.

I think his view is more techno-pessimistic than warranted. Technologies
transform culture and social life, but do not necessarily undermine them.

A Brief History of Technology as Cultural History

That technology and culture are intertwined can be made clear by consid-
ering the history of technology as cultural history, and not just as a history
of inventions.3
Tool making and the ability to maintain, and use fire intentionally is
tied up with the emergence of our own species, including its social struc-
tures. More recently, around 1500 BCE, the transition from copper to
iron changed social structures since copper had been relatively rare and
thereby created an elite, whereas iron ore was widely available and thus
more democratic, but at the same time more demanding in handling; the
transition strengthened the emerging division of labor as blacksmiths were
needed. Agricultural technologies such as the domestication of animals,
the improvement of wheat and other crops, and much later of farming
tools such as the plow allowed again and again a greater production with
less workers, thus creating the opportunity for the rise of cities in northern
Europe in the early centuries of the second millennium.4
In more recent European history, accurate time keeping and the invention
of the printing press may have been major factors in the transition from the
medieval to the modern period. It has been argued, with some right, that the
Protestant Reformation was a consequence of the printing press. New labor
relations arose due to technology. A good example is the shift from home
production of textiles to factories when they shifted from waterpower with
locations spread out along the river, to coal as the source of energy factories
concentrated close to the coalfields. In the absence of affordable passenger
transport, workers had to live nearby, in houses they had to rent from their
masters. Thus, we see the rise of major industrial cities, with social arrange-
ments such as regular working hours and other forms of standardization.
The steam machine was followed by the freedom of internal combus-
tion. What the car has done to social relations is enormous: separating for
commuters the spheres of home and work, while diminishing the pos-
sibility for children to play safely outside. Controlling electricity in the
late nineteenth century with subsequent developments in the twentieth
century (electrical light, telephone, radio and TV, computers, and the
internet) added to the enormous cultural transformations of our time.
 HUMANS, HUMANITIES, AND HUMANISM IN AN AGE OF TECHNOLOGY 19

As just one indication of how fast the developments are going: the very
first “www”-type communication took place between two computers at
CERN in Geneva on Christmas Day of 1990.5
Some have suggested that the internet has created “cyberspace,” a new
domain, free floating and remote from traditional human activities, as if
we are starting all over with a new reality. This language was severely criti-
cized by Michael Dertouzos in an essay in 1981.6
The press and most soothsayers tell us we must prepare ourselves to
enter cyberspace—a gleaming otherworld with new rules and majestic gad-
gets, full of virtual reality, intelligent agents, multimedia, and much more.
Baloney! The Industrial Revolution didn’t take us into “Motorspace.” It
brought motors into our lives as refrigerators that preserved our food and
cars that transported us—creations that served human needs. Yes, there
will be new gadgets, which will be fun to use. But the point is that the
Information Marketplace will bring useful information technologies into
our lives, not propel us into some science fiction universe.
Technology does not create a different world, but it has made our
world different, and will continue to transform our culture.

HUMAN SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN AN AGE

OF TECHNOLOGY

Technology is more than a tool: we are artificial by nature, to use a phrase

by Helmuth Plessner.7 We use technological images to speak about our-
selves and our experiences. Who has never been “under stress,” feeling
“huge pressure”? Do you occasionally need “to blow off steam”? These
are images from the steam age. Though in Christianity, humans are con-
sidered to be “in God’s image,” we speak of ourselves with images of
machines. This is not exclusive for the steam age. The early radio technol-
ogy left its own traces in our language—we need “to tune in”—and com-
puters and the net are modifying our vocabulary and self-understandings
right now. Though these may seem just figures of speech, those techno-
logical models do make us focus on particular features of human existence.

Outsourcing Human Capacities

Not only has our self-image and self-understanding been influenced by
technology, but so have our lives. We have outsourced aspects of human
existence, and in doing so, our understanding of humanity has changed.8
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