Neocolonial Politics of Caring Machines “For” and “Against” Humans

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between man, nature, and technology through the construct of care identified by Martin Heidegger and in the correlation between care and vulnerability, the overcoming of which has served as a central catalyst for the evolution of the entire human history. In the article, the construct is defined as a dialogue between each of the designated elements of the triangle (nature and man, man and technology, technology and the environment) taking place in the field of power and mutual claims. Given the equal value of all three elements, the focus of attention is usually aimed at optimizing the state of knowledge primarily about a person and, if possible, adjusting the development trajectory. That is, having freed himself from the tutelage of nature, to compensate for his vulnerability a person resorts to the invention of tools and devices that promise safety and a reduced risk of dying in the clutches of predators or natural elements. But as tools and devices for defence improve, new challenges and threats arise from man’s own creations. So, eliminating one vulnerability leads to the emergence of new, even more complex forms. As a result, we can conditionally distinguish three basic instruments of care as something that 1) ensures the presence of a conditional thing; 2) declares the power of the one who cares over the one who finds himself in a cocoon of care; 3) can be transferred to another thing, dooming all past objects of attention to be left under the radar and ultimately to disappear.

Keywords

• construct of care
• technoanthropology
• technogenic world
• security
• vulnerability of human nature
• nature and man
• man and technology