Humanity 2.0: What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future - Hardcover

Fuller, S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0230233422 ISBN 13: 9780230233423

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Synopsis

Social thinkers in all fields are faced with one unavoidable question: what does it mean to be 'human' in the 21st century? As definitions between what is "animal" and what is "human" break down, and as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and nano- and bio- technologies develop, accepted notions of humanity are rapidly evolving. Humanity 2.0 is an ambitious and groundbreaking book, offering a sweeping overview of key historical, philosophical and theological moments that have shaped our understandings of humanity. Tackling head on the twin taboos that have always hovered over the scientific study of humanity -- race and religion -- Steve Fuller argues thar far from disappearing, they are being reinvented. Fuller argues that these new developments will force us to decide which features of our current way of life -- not least our bodies -- are truly needed to remain human, and concludes with a consideration of these changes for ethical and social values more broadly.

About this title

Review

'Fuller is the closest thing to a Foucault writing today in the English language.' - Metascience
 
'Takes the debate up a level (if not several levels) in terms of active and considered engagement with the future.' - BioCentre, http://bit.ly/rthOsV

'This is a brave and interesting book, which combines discourses that should mutually engage, but normally do not: biological and theological discussions of "humanity", discussions of transhumanism and evolution, and the policy discussions of convergent technology. Connecting them provides an opportunity to rethink the category of the human. Steve Fuller grasps this opportunity with gusto, in an accessible and wide-ranging overview.' - Professor Stephen Turner, University of South Florida, USA

'Humanity 2.0 offers a wide-ranging and timely account of the next stage of technoscience: the development of a new stage of humanity. Fuller bridges the concerns of science studies and science policy, exploring the historical and philosophical currents underlying the creation of a new biotechnological species, and highlights how the technoscientific industrial complex seeks to construct a new humanity as both product and consumer.' - Robert Frodeman, Director, Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity, University of North Texas, USA
 
'Our understanding of humanity is sure to evolve in the course of this century, and this book enables us to think critically about our prospects.' - The Scientific and Medical Network Review
 
"Humanity 2.0 can be considered a milestone in Fuller's work." - Francis Remedios, LSE Review of Books


 
Interview with Steve Fuller: http://www.exponentialtimes.net/videos/steve-fuller-humanity-20

Book Description

An ambitious and groundbreaking examination, by leading scholar Steve Fuller, on both historical definitions of, and the future for, what it means to be human

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0230233422
• ISBN 13: 9780230233423
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272