Terrorism and the risk society

Abstract

In The Inhuman Jean-Francois Lyotard presents a critique of technological development and its threat. In this context Inhumanism is a term to cover cases where the human dimension is eclipsed by the technological, or taken to be subsidiary to it in some way. This considers two examples demonstrating how the public have been involved in information and communication technologies (ICT) assessment: This study investigated attitudes towards different groups of technologies. ICTs also alter the character of human thought processes, interaction, risk perception, judgement and decision-making and promote unnatural haste. The National Citizens' Technology Forum (NCTF) is important as the first US participatory technology assessment (pTA) exercise to be organized on a national scale. The study examines the implications of radically enhancing individual human capabilities through the combined use of biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology and cognitive science. Modern approaches to risk, crisis and disaster management give pre-eminence to expert knowledge and the formal state apparatus of disaster response and recovery.