The Techno-Human Condition by Brady Allenby and Daniel Sarewitz. The MIT Press. 2011. 216 pages. $27.95.
What if two people plugged into an electronic brain–brain interface that transmitted all their thoughts to each other? In spring 2001, according to Brady Allenby and Daniel Sarewitz in The Techno-Human Condition, a panel at the National Science Foundation considered this very scenario. The participants, who included health researchers and IT executives, agreed unanimously that this interface would erase misunderstanding and usher in world peace.
It didn’t occur to them that humans who understand each other might still want to kill each other, or that good diplomats sometimes have to keep some information to themselves. Allenby, an Arizona State University engineer, and Sarewitz, an Arizona State science professor, cite this as one example of well-intentioned humans placing too much faith in technology.
People often fail to anticipate a new technology’s undesirable side effects, the authors argue. The twentieth-century physicists who discovered nuclear energy did not foresee the atom bomb, global arms races, or toxic fallout from defective nuclear power plants.
Blind faith in technology and failure to gauge new technology’s long-term consequences both receive scrutiny in The Techno-Human Condition. Allenby and Sarewitz stress that technology doesn’t exist in a vacuum: It interacts with larger human and natural systems in both helpful and harmful ways.
“Technology is best understood as an earth system—that is, a complex, constantly changing and adapting system in which human, built and natural systems interact,” the authors write.
Central to their discussion is the use of technology to enhance humans’ mental and physical performance. The transhumanist movement anticipates humans merging with machines, with consequently huge accelerations in people’s life spans, intelligence, and overall well-being. Allenby and Sarewitz agree that technology will transform life, but they call for caution to ensure the best results.
For instance, many people would opt for medical treatments that boost their cognitive skills. But cognitive enhancement does not make someone a better person, and a malicious person who undergoes cognitive enhancement might become even worse—by becoming more capable, he or she also becomes more dangerous.
“If a lot of jerks improved their concentration, the cumulative effect on the rest of us might well be unpleasant,” the authors write.
Western societies, in particular, have a track record of overly trusting technology, according to Allenby and Sarewitz. The Enlightenment era of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries bred successful traditions of scientific inquiry but also left many Westerners assuming that reason and analysis would solve or manage all societal ills.
Allenby and Sarowitz hold that Enlightenment-era thinking has run its course, for our world increasingly defies understanding and management. Humanity will not make much further progress until it learns to embrace complexity and contradiction instead of instinctively trying to solve them.
The authors state that any technology exists on multiple levels. On one level, a human user operates it and benefits from it. On another, the technology interacts with society and generates long-term change. Social media exemplifies this. People first used Facebook, Twitter, and similar applications to interact with other users. Then resultant changes in social interaction, marketing, political activism, reading habits, and human thought patterns emerged.
Allenby and Sarewitz identify five technologies that are poised to rapidly evolve and generate massive societal change: nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics, information and communications technology, and applied cognitive science. Societies will benefit more from them if, while creating them, they also create frameworks to guide their continuing evolution.
The frameworks will have to be adaptable. Technology will change quickly, so the rules governing its use will need to change along with it.
“The lessons of yesterday’s experience are not easily transferred and applied to today’s problems,” write Allenby and Sarewitz.
The authors place more hope in forums for exploring scenarios of innovations and their consequences. Critical analysis, experiential learning, forecasting, and emergency planning will all be vital to helping people navigate the often-bewildering paths of innovation.
“Intelligence must co-evolve with, and emerge from, experience,” they write.
The Techno-Human Condition is a thoughtful and analytical discussion of how humanity might continue to develop technology while preserving the best of human nature. The authors’ tone is philosophical and academic; it is not light reading. But readers who look forward to an informative debate will be highly satisfied.
Rick Docksai is a staff editor for THE FUTURIST and an assistant editor for World Future Review. E-mail rdocksai@wfs.org.