Tag Archives: Langdon Winner

Capitalism, the driving force of the Post-human?

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As the development of a free-market system gave rise to the notions of liberal humanism in the 17th and 18th centuries, I see current understandings and developments in modern capitalism as the most powerful force causing the evolution of the post-human. In a nation obsessed with gaining a competitive edge over economic rivals, the idea of a post-human physically and mentally superior to humans in other countries is incredibly tantalizing. Continue reading →

Primitivism and the Posthuman

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A few semesters ago I took a philosophy course titled Nature, Technology, and Society, which covered Langdon Winner’s “Are Humans Obsolete?”. Interestingly enough the section of the course that we covered him in was under primitivism. I thought this was interesting considering Winner’s lean toward posthumanism, but where I found a connection was in the rejection of technological progression. I realized that Winner’s approach focuses more on technology’s manipulative nature over humans after reading this in the context of this class. Continue reading →

Complicating Post-Humanism with Feminist Disability Studies

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While reading and engaging with the texts assigned for this week, I find myself questioning a lot of the post-humanist rhetoric concerning the striving for the immortal, infallible human body and mind. Within the last two semesters, I’ve started learning about and exploring the area of disability studies, especially within feminist disability studies, and some of the concepts of post-humanism discussed throughout Elaine L. Graham’s Representations of the post/human and Langdon Winner’s article “Are Humans Obsolete?” are, I believe, greatly at odds with the goals and advances of feminist disability studies activism. Continue reading →

Is a Successor Species Inevitable?

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In Representations of the Post/Human, Elaine L. Graham explains her use of the term “post/human” instead of simply “post-human” on page 11: “…I hope to suggest a questioning both of inevitability of a successor species…” Is it truly unavoidable that there will be a successor species? This is the question I’d like to explore in this post. Continue reading →

Reflections on the Societal Consequences of the Technology

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I found Winner’s essay to be a very stimulating read, as it led me to seriously reconsider how we should view technology, which is almost universally believed to have positive effects. More importantly, I liked how he brought up the inherently selfish nature of certain technological pursuits that are overlooked in our enthusiasm for scientific advancement. Continue reading →

The Human as the Creator

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After reading “Are Humans Obsolete?” and “Learning to Be Me” on the blog today, I read the introduction to Graham’s Representations of the Post/Human.  Although the introduction did explore many different aspects of the works that we read for today, it also mentioned during the “Re-Enchantment” sub-heading more about the human agent in creating technology. Continue reading →