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.  

This September 2011 Future Tense event explored 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. Video highlights from that discussion are available above, while audio and video recordings of the full event can be accessed at right.

Participants

Featured Speakers
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

Moderator
Emily Yoffe
“Dear Prudence” advice columnist, Slate