Article:
Techniken der Überschreitung. Fertigungsmechanismen ‹verlässlich lebensfähiger› biologischer Entitäten

Author(s): Friedrich, KathrinGramelsberger, Gabriele

Abstract

The current debates on ‹converging technologies› and ‹synthetic biology› come along with a strong trans-humanist techno-futurism. Mankind creates increasingly access to new dimensions by learning to manipulate very small entities. Thus, shaping the world atom by atom respectively cell by cell. Furthermore, the advertised convergence of technologies as a convergence on a material level – atoms, cells, bits, neurons will enable new products like bio-nano machines, brain-to-machine interfaces, neuromorphic engineering, and nano implantats. This will herald a new and (of course) ‹golden age› of improving human performance. That this is meant to be more than an ironic slogan, is documented in the initial 2002-report of the US-American National Science Foundation: Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance. This paper discusses the feasibility of this vision by analyzing the case of Synthetic Biology. It explores the concept of technological agency in these new dimensions and discusses the question, whether the reported developments are really opening up a trans-humanist world. Or, if this approach, in contrast, shapes an increasingly anthropomorphized world.

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BibTex
Friedrich, Kathrin; Gramelsberger, Gabriele: Techniken der Überschreitung. Fertigungsmechanismen ‹verlässlich lebensfähiger› biologischer Entitäten. In: Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft, Jg. 3 (2011), Nr. 1, S. 31-37. DOI: 10.25969/mediarep/2524.
@ARTICLE{Friedrich2011,
 author = {Friedrich, Kathrin and Gramelsberger, Gabriele},
 title = {Techniken der Überschreitung. Fertigungsmechanismen ‹verlässlich lebensfähiger› biologischer Entitäten},
 year = 2011,
 doi = {10.25969/mediarep/2524},
 volume = 3,
 address = {Berlin},
 journal = {Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft},
 number = 1,
 pages = {31--37},
}
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The item has been published with the following license: Unter Urheberrechtsschutz