Human agency and the technoscientific dilemma: Contesting the role of technology in shaping our collective futures

Abstract

The launch of ChatGPT created a tidal wave of interest, rapid uptake of the app and a surge of capital investment. It quickly became clear that what was now being called ‘generative AI’ would have multiple impacts and implications across the board. The paper begins by outlining aspects of the context from which these innovations arose. They include Neoliberalism and the ‘playbook’ of careless, ‘non-legal’ innovation that occurred during the early rise of social media platforms. The paper also critiques Silicon Valley, both for its one-sided culture and its obsession with marketing. It specifically draws attention to the characteristics and limitations of ‘technoscientific’ outlooks and the way they conceal, or edit out, key aspects of human existence. A summary of the attributes of technoscience suggests a number of possible responses. Behind these, however, is a widely ignored dilemma - the proposition that a continuation of further stages of high-tech innovation benefits the human enterprise. Yet many high-tech developments are unambiguously sociopathic. They project extreme danger and dysfunction out onto innocent people and unprepared social environments. The paper summarises recent attempts to come to terms with a radically transformed, technology saturated environment and concludes with suggestions for enhancing human agency.