A philosophical examination of technology's influence. It explores the relationship between technology and free will. Rejecting the notion of technology as a neutral addition to our lives, it also examines the type and degree of our society's technological dependence.

This book offers an extensive historical, philosophical and ethical discussion on the role of autonomous technologies, and their influence on human identity. By connecting those different perspectives, and analysing some practical case studies, it guides readers to dissect the relationship between machine and human autonomy, and machine and human identity. It analyses how the relationship between human and technology has been evolving in the last few centuries. Last, it aims at proposing an explanation on the reason/s why humans have been keen on developing their own autonomy’s perfect avatar.

Writings by thinkers ranging from Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain to Bruno Latour that focus on the interconnections of technology, society, and values. Technological change does not happen in a vacuum; decisions about which technologies to develop, fund, market, and use engage ideas about values as well as calculations of costs and benefits. In order to influence the development of technology for the better, we must first understand how technology and society are inextricably bound together. These writings--by thinkers ranging from Bruno Latour to Francis Fukuyama--help us do just that, examining how people shape technology and how technology shapes people. This second edition updates the original significantly, offering twenty-one new essays along with fifteen from the first edition. The book first presents visions of the future that range from technological utopias to cautionary tales and then introduces several major STS theories. It examines human and social values and how they are embedded in technological choices and explores the interesting and subtle complexities of the technology-society relationship. Remedying a gap in earlier theorizing in the field, many of the texts illustrate how race and gender are intertwined with technology. Finally, the book offers a set of readings that focus on the sociotechnical challenges we face today, treating topics that include cybersecurity, geoengineering, and the myth of neutral technology.

Internet-based technologies prevail in most of the world. Along with the positive features of digital technologies that permeate our lives in almost every area, including lifestyles and daily practices, the traces of negative aspects have also become evident. Digital addiction is among the most important of these aspects. It is obvious that communication, which has been maintained in various forms since the beginning of humanity, has been shaped by the period in which it is lived. The technology-based transformation has transformed communication, which has been adopted to the "internet" in the world, into a completely different form. Communication, which has become sustainable at any time and anywhere, regardless of location, led by the never-ending elements of "continuity" and "interaction," has turned into an indispensable form. Perspectives on Society and Technology Addiction examines every subject of digital addiction in an interdisciplinary way. It discusses the issues about what technology addiction is, how to deal with this addiction, how to use the existing technology in a positive way, how to deal with this technology for disadvantaged groups, and concerns in the fields of social science and communication science. Covering topics such as Consumer 5.0, experience design, and information markets, this premier reference source is an essential resource for sociologists, policymakers, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Human factors are the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data, and other methods to design to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. Human factor issues and the impact of technology on society is a topic that is only growing, and it is essential that it is considered as technology becomes more present in our daily lives. This not only impacts society now but is something to be considered for the future. It is also incredibly important for those in the human factors profession to consider the impact of technology for their work and for the users they are helping design for. Therefore, this topic has immense impact and is important to study from a research perspective to advance the understanding of how technology works, how we work, and how we as humans work within the context of the technology we use. Human Factors Issues and the Impact of Technology on Society examines the role of technology on society with a specific focus on human factors issues and how they are associated with and related to technology use in society. A few highlighted topics within this book are digital health technologies, learning technologies, ethics in social technology, ICT use in businesses, and sustainability. These topics are only a few of examples of how this book analyzes technology in all different facets of society, making it ideal for a wide audience including human factors practitioners, technologists, sociologists, policy makers, teachers, technology developers and designers, business professionals, ethicists, researchers, academicians, students, and anyone else seeking more information on how technology is impacting society through the viewpoint of human factors.

Technology, in all its forms, has had and continues to have an indisputable impact on society and culture. Philosophy of technology seeks to understand this impact and the meaning of technology for society and culture. Although its origins can be traced back to the Greeks, it wasn’t until the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century that it gained ground as a philosophical discipline. Now more than ever it is considered an essential philosophical enterprise. ‘The Budapest Workshop on Philosophy of Technology’ was a lively and successful event that sought to discuss, reflect on and apply this branch of philosophical inquiry to both historical and contemporary examples. Importantly, the contributors’ methodological approaches were influenced by, although not limited to, Michael Polanyi’s term ‘post-critical’. Moving beyond the rigidity of past approaches, the selected essays were driven by two lines of inquiry, what has been the historical role of technology in social and scientific change? And, how can a ‘post-critical’ approach enhance and extend our understanding of philosophy of technology? This edited volume begins by exploring the role of technology in social and scientific developments from a historical perspective, before moving towards a discussion of philosophy of technology from a ‘Post-Critical’ epistemic stance. Free from the constraints of previous methodologies, the third part of this work engages with the term ‘Post-Critical’ in its broadest sense. The contributors to this section consider the phenomenology of the body and the influence of technology on our lives. Finally, the four concluding chapters of this book apply this philosophical approach to a wide range of contemporary problems from Decision Support Systems to Crisis Communication.

Over the last decade or so, the field of science and technology studies (STS) has become an intellectually dynamic interdisciplinary arena. Concepts, methods, and theoretical perspectives are being drawn both from long-established and relatively young disciplines. From its origins in philosophical and political debates about the creation and use of scientific knowledge, STS has become a wide and deep space for the consideration of the place of science and technology in the world, past and present. The Routledge Handbook of Science, Technology and Society seeks to capture the dynamism and breadth of the field by presenting work that pushes the reader to think about science and technology and their intersections with social life in new ways. The interdisciplinary contributions by international experts in this handbook are organized around six topic areas: embodiment consuming technoscience digitization environments science as work rules and standards This volume highlights a range of theoretical and empirical approaches to some of the persistent – and new – questions in the field. It will be useful for students and scholars throughout the social sciences and humanities, including in science and technology studies, history, geography, critical race studies, sociology, communications, women’s and gender studies, anthropology, and political science.

Provides a roadmap for understanding the relationship between technology and human rights law and practice. This title is also available as Open Access.

The academic fields of religion and values have become the focus of renewed interest in contemporary thinking about human activity and its motivations. The Routledge International Handbook of Education, Religion and Values explores and expands upon a range of international research related to this revival. The book provides an authoritative overview of global issues in religion and values, surveying the state of the academic area in contributions covering a wide range of topics. It includes emerging, controversial, and cutting-edge contributions, as well as investigations into more established areas. International authorities Arthur and Lovat have brought together experts from across the world to examine the complexity of the field of study. The handbook is organised around four key topics, which focus on both the importance of religion and values as broad fields of human enquiry, as well as in their application to education, inter-agency work and cross-cultural endeavours: -The Conceptual World of Religion and Values -Religion and Values in Education -Religion and Values in Inter-agency Work -Religion and Values in Cross-cultural Work. This comprehensive reference work combines theoretical and empirical research of international significance, and will be valuable reading for students, researchers and academics in the field of education.

Human-centredness: A Challenge to Post-industrial Europe? The key power in industrial society has been linked to the possession of capital and factory. In the "information society" it could be rather different. If one accepts that that the key power in the information society will be linked not so much to the ownership of information but to human creativity nourished by that information, the productive force of today and tomorrow, could be more and more the human brain. Making use of one's intelligence is always accompanied by positive emotion, which in turn further activates the intelligence. But, unfortunately, under present conditions workers of all levels live in fear, anxiety and stress rather than desire and motivation. The question of "basic human ecology" (quality of life) is, therefore, a major strategic factor. It is precisely the opposite to the mechanisms of exclusion that currently dominate our society: exclusion of young people through joblessness - but also exclusion through technology, as with the helplessness of older people or the poorly educated confronted with ticket dispensing machines or other automats. This is not idle theorizing, it corresponds to concrete facts. It is, for example, how some observers interpret the crisis at IBM. Because its programs were less 'human-friendly', it was shaken to its foundations by Apple and Microsof- though it seems since to have learnt its lesson.