Proactionary and Precautionary Principles and Welfare State 2.0

Abstract

This chapter is on proactionary versus precautionary principles. The proactionary principle stresses risk-taking, while the precautionary principle stresses the need to conserve nature. Fuller explores the futures of the human condition, which includes “transhumanism” and “posthumanism.” Starting with the emerging challenges posed by so-called human enhancement sciences and technologies, Fuller has explored alternative futures under three rubrics: the ecological, the biomedical, and the cybernetic. These attempts to re-engineer both our bodies and the environment require substantial re-definitions of social justice and economics productivity, all envisioned within new political orders of Welfare State 2.0 as opposed to Welfare State 1.0.