Megamachine and human condition: ethical urgent issues in the technics’ world
- Alexandre Filordi de Carvalho
Abstract
The article examines the concept of the mega-machine proposed by Lewis Mumford, arguing that the human condition is intrinsically linked to the constitution of this structure. The central hypothesis is that the human condition is defined in terms of what the mega-machine synchronizes: technical objects, techniques and machines, which raises important ethical dilemmas. The text is divided into two sections. The first, entitled ‘Machines, technical Objects and Technology: Human Endeavor condensed into the Productive Affirmation of Life's Expansion’, rejects a catastrophist view of technology, arguing that the ethical dimension of life is also intertwined with the history of technology. The second section, ‘The Universe of the Mega-Machine and the Human Condition: Ethical Prefigurations’, focuses on how the human condition is machinic and requires an open ethics, similar to Simondon's concept of the open technical object. Finally, the article presents several contemporary ethical problematics that are profoundly affected by the mega-machine, underlining the constant tension between the technical and the human.
Keywords
megamachine, human condition, ethics, technical objects, technology
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