UNSPECIFIED (2005) When simplicity outsmarts complexity. FUTURES, 37 (4). pp. 333-336. ISSN 0016-3287

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Abstract

Although there has been a marked increase in the academic study of the "posthuman" it has had a tendency to be polarized: on the one hand, certain elements of academia are mirroring popular culture in a prophetic examination of social nihilism and unfettered technological advance, culminating in the marriage of human and computer. On the other hand, some academics treat the topic as fanciful, part of a general degradation of modem culture, which in turn, leads them to ignore and sometimes even ridicule research done in the name of the posthuman.

Unfortunately - and possibly as a result of this ridicule - those who are willing to write from the former, seem to have an overarching desire to do it from a scientific realist standpoint; as if it was the only legitimate position to take. The result of this has been a number of in-depth articles on the computer dynamics necessary - and the vast scientific and technological advances needed - to achieve computational parity with human neurology. But although it follows that there would be limited desire to "upgrade" the human by plugging it into something deemed "inferior"; the scientific realist perspective has resulted in the timeframe for fundamental posthuman change being one of centuries, rather than decades.

In opposing the scientific realist position I will argue - using Bostrom's example of the human computer simulation - that from a more "sceptical" philosophical position, such a device may in fact be practically on our doorstep, rather than light-years away. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Item
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Journal or Publication Title:	FUTURES
Publisher:	ELSEVIER SCI LTD
ISSN:	0016-3287
Official Date:	May 2005
Volume:	37
Number:	4
Number of Pages:	4
Page Range:	pp. 333-336
Identification Number:	10.1016/j.futures.2004.07.007
Publication Status:	Published
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/7261

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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