Book contents
- Political Theory of the Digital Age
- Political Theory of the Digital Age
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Learning from the Amish
- 3 Artificial Intelligence and the Past, Present, and Future of Democracy
- 4 Truth Will Not Set You Free: Is There a Right to It Anyway?
- 5 Knowing and Being Known
- 6 Beyond Porn and Discreditation
- 7 The Fourth Generation of Human Rights: Epistemic Rights in Life 2.0 and Life 3.0
- 8 On Surveillance Capitalism, Instrumentarian Power, and Social Physics
- 9 Data as Social Facts: Distributive Justice Meets Big Data
- 10 God, Golem, and Gadget Worshippers: Meaning of Life in the Digital Age
- 11 Moral Status and Political Membership: Toward a Political Theory for Life 3.0
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
10 - God, Golem, and Gadget Worshippers: Meaning of Life in the Digital Age
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2023
- Political Theory of the Digital Age
- Political Theory of the Digital Age
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Learning from the Amish
- 3 Artificial Intelligence and the Past, Present, and Future of Democracy
- 4 Truth Will Not Set You Free: Is There a Right to It Anyway?
- 5 Knowing and Being Known
- 6 Beyond Porn and Discreditation
- 7 The Fourth Generation of Human Rights: Epistemic Rights in Life 2.0 and Life 3.0
- 8 On Surveillance Capitalism, Instrumentarian Power, and Social Physics
- 9 Data as Social Facts: Distributive Justice Meets Big Data
- 10 God, Golem, and Gadget Worshippers: Meaning of Life in the Digital Age
- 11 Moral Status and Political Membership: Toward a Political Theory for Life 3.0
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Meaning of life and technology are not normally theorized together. But once we realize that all human activity is always technologically mediated, we see that any acts in pursuit of personal significance, too, are so mediated. However, this point then opens the possibility that technology enters the quest for meaning the wrong way. This chapter explores what that possibility means and how to respond to it. I use as my starting point Nozick’s proposal for how to think about the meaning of life. Nozick’s account makes central the idea of “limited transcendence,” essentially folding the kind of transcendence normally involved in interaction with divinity into a finite life. Nozick’s high-altitude view does not make sufficiently clear how technology enters. But once we bring in additional ideas from Ihde and Arendt, we can see clearly how it does. Next, we turn to Wiener’s classic God & Golem. Wiener is concerned with “gadget worshippers,” people who surrender control over their lives to machines in ways that are not appropriate to what these machines can do. Working with this notion, we can throw light on how technology can enter into the quest for meaning the wrong way and offer advice for how to counterbalance this challenge.
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- Political Theory of the Digital AgeWhere Artificial Intelligence Might Take Us, pp. 207 - 230Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023