A map of technopolitics

Deep convergence, platform ontologies, and cognitive efficiency

Bibliographic Data

ID4481923
AuthorsMichael A Peters (0000-0002-1482-2975, Beijing Normal University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume158
Issue1
Pages117-140
Publication date2020-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThesis Eleven (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0725-5136 • E-ISSN: 1461-7455
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0725513620928812
OpenAlexW3036262391
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited20

This paper, based on an invited Thesis Eleven presentation (8 August 2019), provides a 'map of technopolitics' that springs from an investigation of the theoretical notion of technological convergence adopted by the US National Science Foundation, signaling a new paradigm of 'nano-bio-info-cogno' (NBIC) technologies. This integration at the nano-level is expected to drive the next wave of scientific research, technology and knowledge economy. The paper explores the concept of 'technopolitics' by investigating the links between Wittgenstein's anti-scientism and Lyotard's 'technoscience', reviewing the history of the notion in the work of the Belgium philosopher Gilbert Hottois. The 'deep convergence' representing a new technoscientific synergy is the product of long-term trends of 'bioinformational capitalism' that harnesses the twin forces of information and genetic sciences that coalesce in the least mature 'cognosciences' in their application to education and research. The map of technopolitics systematically identifies the political relations between Big Tech and 'new digital publics' to reveal that the new paradigm is based on the supreme value of cognitive efficiency. There are a closely-knit cluster of concerns that frame a map of political issues about the fifth-generation technological impacts on human beings, their bodies and minds, and public institutions, not least the logic of the distribution and ownership of data, information and knowledge, and its effects on democracy

Big data · Capitalism · Economics · Epistemology · Microfoundations · Ontology · Political science · Politics · Scientism · Situational ethics · Social science · Sociology · Technological convergence · Technoscience · Computer Science · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Law · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Origins and Evolution of Life

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