Re-Engineering Humanity

Innovation has a dark side. The price of progress is that humans are becoming increasingly predictable, programmable, and machine-like.

Brett Frischmann (Author), Evan Selinger (Author)

9781108707640, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 September 2019

434 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.71 kg

'Professors Frischmann and Selinger shine a bright light on the current path of our surveillance capitalist society, using a combination of detailed analysis, contemporary examples, and thought experiments. The authors explain that as we (and information about us) increasingly become the product, we are also becoming simple machines programmed by our technology to respond in certain ways. As Frischmann and Selinger suggest, techno-social engineering is a powerful force that requires us to responsibly evaluate its use. And 'if we don't accept that responsibility, we risk becoming means to others' ends'.' Jeramie D. Scott, Epic Alert

Every day, new warnings emerge about artificial intelligence rebelling against us. All the while, a more immediate dilemma flies under the radar. Have forces been unleashed that are thrusting humanity down an ill-advised path, one that's increasingly making us behave like simple machines? In this wide-reaching, interdisciplinary book, Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger examine what's happening to our lives as society embraces big data, predictive analytics, and smart environments. They explain how the goal of designing programmable worlds goes hand in hand with engineering predictable and programmable people. Detailing new frameworks, provocative case studies, and mind-blowing thought experiments, Frischmann and Selinger reveal hidden connections between fitness trackers, electronic contracts, social media platforms, robotic companions, fake news, autonomous cars, and more. This powerful analysis should be read by anyone interested in understanding exactly how technology threatens the future of our society, and what we can do now to build something better.

Foreword Nicholas Carr
Introduction
Part I: 1. Engineering humans
2. Cogs in the machine of our own lives
3. Techno-social engineering creep and the slippery-sloped path
Part II: 4. Tools for engineering humans
5. Engineering humans with contracts
6. On extending minds and mind control
7. The path to smart techno-social environments
8. Techno-social engineering of humans through smart environments
9. #RelationshipOptimization
Part III: 10. Turing tests and the line between humans and machines
11. Can humans be engineered to be incapable of thinking?
12. Engineered determinism and free will
13. To what end?
Part IV: 14. Conclusion: reimagining and building alternative futures.

Subject Areas: Impact of science & technology on society [PDR], Philosophy of science [PDA], International economic & trade law [LBBM], Law & society [LAQ]