Human Flourishing in a Technological World : A Theological Perspective

Cover
Human Flourishing in a Technological World: A Theological Perspective
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Introduction
PART I: CONFRONTING THE TECHNO-VISION: Historical and Philosophical Analysis
	1. From Living Souls to Software Selves: The Movements of Enchantment through Western Metaphysics
		The Narrative Trope: The Lure of Self-Enchantment
		The Hellenist Cosmos
		The Judeo-Christian Difference: Enchantment Lite
		The Collapse of the Ontotheological Synthesis
		The Late Medieval Theological Debates and the Demise of the Thomist Synthesis
		The Rise of Mechanistic Science: Disenchantment Standardized
		A World Formatted for Manipulation
		Descartes’ Dualism: The Evaporation of the Life-World
		Transforming Mechanics into Information: Re-enchanting Reality by Mind-Upload
	2. Oh, That We Might Learn to See Everything Differently: Interrogating a Baconian Spirit, Confessing (In)humanity
		Introduction
		Confessing Peddlers and Propaganda, Potentialities and Politics: A Cult of Youth, a Cooperative Marketplace, and a Call to Action
		Confessing Transhumanist Aspirations Conformed to a Baconian Spirit: Pursuing Control and Choice toward Extinction
		Confessing Inhumanity: Nothing to Lose and Nothing New to See Here, Folks! Technology, Sin, and Disorientation
		That We Might Learn to See Everything Differently: Follow Me
	3. Personhood and Technology
		Introduction
		Hermeneutic Frameworks
		Imago Dei and the Mystery of the Person
			Embodiment
			The Gift of Personhood: Freedom in Communal Responsibility
		Examples of Depersonalizing Techno-Vision
	4. The Icon and the Idol: A Christian Perspective on Sociable Robots
		Introduction
		Robots, Functional Masks, and Relational Persons
			Why Does the West Reject the Robot?
			Ancient Rome and the Person as Functional Behaver
			Christianity and the Person as Relational Subject
		God, the Created World, and the Person
		The Person, the Artifact, and the Robot
			Mages, Mechanisms, and Robots
			The Robot as Icon of the Personal
			The Robot as Idolatrous Substitute for the Personal
		The Robot as Extending the Personal
		Conclusions
	5. Becoming Human in a Technological World
		Witnessing Life
		Beyond the Human?
	6. Remaining Focused: Human Flourishing and the Mundane in the Emergent Technoculture
		Introduction
		Human Flourishing
		The Necessity of the Ordinary
		The Allure of the Extraordinary
		Distraction
PART II: PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY FOR HUMAN FLOURISHING
	7. The Evolution of Wisdom in a Technological World: An Exploration in Nature and Grace
		The Ends of Technology
		Theology and Ethics of Wisdom
		Nature and Grace
		Case Study: De-Extinction
		Conclusions
	8. Transhumanism, Embodied Cognition, and Psychiatry
		Introduction
		Mind-Uploading
		Critique of Functionalism
		Critique of Neuroreductionism
		Psychiatry between Psyche and Brain
		Against Reductionism
		Psychiatry as Relational Medicine: An Integrative Concept
		Conclusion
	9. Leisure in a Technological World
		Introduction
		Work as Self-Identification
		Recovering Leisure in a Technological World of Work
		The Three Elements of Genuine Leisure
		Friendship, Technology, and Human Flourishing
		Conclusion
	10. Education, Enhancement, and the Pursuit of the Good
		Introduction
		Treatment and Enhancement
		Education
		Education and Technology
			The Nature of Natural Education
			Frictionless Education
			Education and Social Growth
		Conclusion
	11. Human Flourishing, Disability, and Technology
		Introduction
		Relationality and Flourishing
		Disability and the Historical Breakdown of Relationality in the Church
		Limits and Limitedness: What It Means to Be Human
			Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Theological Anthropology
			Deborah Creamer’s Limits Model
			Reading Bonhoeffer and Creamer Together
		Technology, Disability, and Human Flourishing
		Conclusion
	12. Living in the Midst of Death: Theological and Philosophical Reflections on Aging and Identity
		Bonhoeffer’s Theological Anthropology
		Jean Améry’s Phenomenology of Aging
		Conclusion
	13. Death and Glory in a Technological World
		Death and Glory for Techno-Scientific People
		Death and Glory for Secular Humanism
		Death and Glory for Transhumanism
		Death and Glory for Christians
		Conclusion
PART III: DEMYSTIFYING AI: Toward the Dignified Use of Modern Technology
	14. Personhood and Human Flourishing in a Technological World
		Origins of the Message
		The Goal of the Message
		A More Dignifying Use of Technology
		Conclusion
	15. Personhood, Consciousness, and Technology: A Dialogue with Jaron Lanier
Bibliography
Index of Biblical Citations
Name Index
Subject Index