The Computer Metaphor. Anchoring the Fear of Human Obsolescence(s) since the 20th Century (2022)
Piel, Helen (Author)
Seising, Rudolf (Author)
Christian Götter (Author)
Technikgeschichte: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Technik und Industrie
Volume: 89
Issue: 1
Pages: 87-118
Edition Details: Special issue: Technologies as Anchors for Societal Conflicts
Language: English
This article shows how fundamental debates on both human obsolescence in the form of vanishing human exceptionalism and of technological unem- ployment were anchored to the emerging technology of artificial intelligence (AI). Through this anchoring, these debates became tangible and they were discussed beyond scientific circles by the wider public too. Thus the technol ogy on the one hand and the scientific and social debates on human obsoles cence on the other hand entered into a phase of coevolution. We will first discuss the computer metaphor since it not only prepared the idea of AI but also was the culture medium for the connection between the technology and the obsolescence debates. In the second half of the article, we then discuss this connection in the context of human exceptionalism, followed by the context of technological unemployment. Next to prominent examples from Anglo-American AI research as well as cybernetics and psychology we look at German-language examples. That the spread of the anchoring of debate to technology goes beyond scientific circles is made clear by looking at science fiction and broadsheet newspapers and magazines. , In diesem Artikel zeigen wir auf, wie grundsätzliche Debatten sowohl über menschliche Obsoleszenz in Form menschlicher Besonderheit als auch über technisch induzierte Arbeitslosigkeit an der neu entstehenden Technologie der künstlichen Intelligenz verankert, somit konkretisiert und in größerer Breite, weit über wissenschaftliche Kreise hinaus, diskutiert wurden. Damit traten die Technologie einerseits und die wissenschaftlichen wie auch gesellschaftlichen Diskussionen um die menschliche Obsoleszenz andererseits in eine Phase der Koevolution ein. Wir diskutieren zunächst die Computermetapher, da diese nicht nur die Idee der AI an sich vorbereitete, sondern auch den Nährboden für die Verbindung zwischen der Technologie und den Obsoleszenzdebatten bildete. Diese Verbindungen zwischen der entstehenden AIForschung und Fragen der menschlichen Sonderstellung einerseits, technisch induzierter Arbeitslosigkeit andererseits, werden dann im zweiten Teil des Textes beispiel- haft diskutiert. Neben prominenten Beispielen aus der angloamerikanischen AIForschung sowie Kybernetik und Psychologie ziehen wir hierbei auch deutschsprachige Beiträge heran. Die Verbreitung der Verankerung weit über die wissenschaftlichen Debatten hinaus werden anhand von Beispielen aus der Science Fiction ebenso wie Zeitungs und Zeitschriftenbeiträgen verdeutlicht.
...MoreArticle Helmuth Trischler (2022) Technologies as Anchors for Societal Conflicts. An Introduction. Technikgeschichte: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Technik und Industrie (pp. 3-8).
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