Wellner AI and the Need to Redefine Human Traits

2024

In this paper, I aim to assess whether postphenomenology's ontological framework is suitable for making sense of the most recent technoscientific developments, with special reference to the case of AI-based technologies. First, I will argue that we may feel diminished by those technologies seemingly replicating our higher-order cognitive processes only insofar as we regard technology as playing no role in the constitution of our core features. Second, I will highlight the epistemological tension underlying the account of this dynamic submitted by postphenomenology. On the one hand, postphenomenology's general framework prompts us to conceive of humans and technologies as mutually constituting one another. On the other hand, the postphenomenological analyses of particular human-technology relations, which Peter-Paul Verbeek calls cyborg relations and hybrid intentionality, seem to postulate the existence of something exclusively human that technology would only subsequently mediate. Third, I will conclude by proposing that postphenomenology could incorporate into its ontology insights coming from other approaches to the study of technology, which I label as human constitutive technicity in the wake of Peter Sloterdijk's and Bernard Stiegler's philosophies. By doing so, I believe postphenomenology could better account for how developments in AI prompt and possibly even force us to revise our self-representation. From this viewpoint, I will advocate for a constitutive role of technology in shaping the human lifeform not only in the phenomenological-existential sense of articulating our relation to the world but also in the onto-anthropological sense of influencing our evolution.

Philosophy Papers (PhilPapers), 2024

This paper examines the ontological and epistemological implications of artificial intelligence (AI) through posthumanist philosophy, integrating the works of Deleuze, Foucault, and Haraway with contemporary computational methodologies. It introduces concepts such as negative augmentation, praxes of revealing, and desedimentation, while extending ideas like affirmative cartographies, ethics of alterity, and planes of immanence to critique anthropocentric assumptions about identity, cognition, and agency. By redefining AI systems as dynamic assemblages emerging through networks of interaction and co-creation, the paper challenges traditional dichotomies such as human versus machine and subject versus object. Bridging analytic and continental philosophical traditions, the analysis unites formal tools like attribution analysis and causal reasoning with the interpretive and processual methodologies of continental thought. This synthesis deepens the understanding of AI's epistemic and ethical dimensions, expanding philosophical inquiry while critiquing anthropocentrism in AI design. The paper interrogates the spatial foundations of AI, contrasting Euclidean and non-Euclidean frameworks to examine how optimization processes and adversarial generative models shape computational epistemologies. Critiquing the reliance on Euclidean spatial assumptions, it positions alternative geometries as tools for modeling complex, recursive relationships. Furthermore, the paper addresses the political dimensions of AI, emphasizing its entanglements with ecological, technological, and sociopolitical systems that perpetuate inequality. Through a politics of affirmation and intersectional approaches, it advocates for inclusive frameworks that prioritize marginalized perspectives. The concept of computational qualia is also explored, highlighting how subjective-like dynamics emerge within AI systems and their implications for ethics, transparency, and machine perception. Finally, paper calls for a posthumanist framework in AI ethics and safety, emphasizing interconnectivity, plurality, and the transformative capacities of machine intelligence. This approach advances epistemic pluralism and reimagines the boundaries of intelligence in the digital age, fostering novel ontological possibilities through the co-creation of dynamic systems.

Logos, 2024

PART I situates AI within the long arc of human technē, this paper proposes to think about AI (and gene-editing technologies) as the latest and perhaps final attempt of our species millennia-old project of asserting complete dominion over nature. - PART II of the paper focuses on the corrosive impact of AI on human memory. - Drawing on Augustine, Pascal, and Robert Spaemann, PART III reflects on what long-term effects an unrestricted integration of AI into human existence and everyday practice is likely to have.

goose.ycp.edu

Human Arenas, 2018

Human beings have used technology to improve their efficiency throughout history. We continue to do so today, but we are no longer only using technology to perform physical tasks. Today, we make computers that are smart enough to challenge, and even surpass, us in many areas. Artificial intelligence—embodied or not—now drive our cars, trade stocks, socialise with our children, keep the elderly company and the lonely warm. At the same time, we use technology to gather vast amounts of data on ourselves. This, in turn, we use to train intelligent computers that ease and customise ever more of our lives. The change that occurs in our relations to other people, and computers, change both how we act and how we are. What sort of challenges does this development pose for human beings? I argue that we are seeing an emerging challenge to the concept of what it means to be human, as (a) we struggle to define what makes us special and try to come to terms with being surpassed in various ways by computers, and (b) the way we use and interact with technology changes us in ways we do not yet fully understand.

NECSUS : European journal of media studies, 2020

This paper aims to analyse how cultural products reflect the topics and problematics derived from technological and scientific advances and how these relate to the construction of the subject and power. Following the terminology coined by Foucault, this paper will refer to the technologies of the self and the technologies of power reflected in the new approaches to the relationships between humans and machines. In this precise sense, AI narratives and contemporary speculative fictions construct new realities in which factual truths turn into virtual realities and hyperrealities, usually addressing power and political conflicts as well as socioeconomic implications.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the latest advancements in Information Technology (IT) have drastically altered our view of the world. With the ability to process and analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, AI has revolutionized several industries, including healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. For instance, AI-powered medical devices can assist doctors in making diagnoses and predicting patient outcomes more accurately, while also helping them identify early warning signs of diseases. Furthermore, the rise of Machine Learning (ML) has enabled organizations to leverage predictive analytics to gain valuable insights into consumer behavior and market trends. For example, online retailers such as Amazon use AI algorithms to personalize product recommendations based on a customer's browsing and purchase history. In this way, AI-powered systems are able to offer customized experiences and improve overall customer satisfaction. A key challenge on that is the potential impact of AI on human consciousness and perception. As AI systems become more advanced and more integrated into our daily lives, there is a risk that they may alter our perception of the world and our understanding of reality. This raises important questions about the ethical implications of AI and the need to ensure that AI systems are designed and used in a responsible and ethical manner. A shift in a new revolutionary science such as AI and applications such as chatGPT is telling us again that man is not at the center of the universe as an intelligent being. The ideal model of the "Cartesian Man" embodied the basic tenets of Renaissance humanism, which considered man the centre of the universe, limitless in his capacities for development, led to the notion that men should try to embrace all knowledge and develop their own capacities as fully as possible, unfortunately it seems that AI is replacing those limitless capacities! My question is whether AI as a potentially transformative technology that has the potential to enhance our understanding of the world and ourselves.

2009

The aim of this paper is to pin down the misuse of Heidegger's philosophal insights within the discipline of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. In this paper we argue that a central thesis of phenomenology, in Husserl's words,“putting the world between brackets”, has led to a positioning in embodied AI that deeply neglects fundamental representational aspects that are totally necessary for the purpose of building a theory of cognition.

2006

Artificialities: From Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Culture <br> Subjectivity, Embodiment and Technology in Contemporary Speculative Texts This thesis is an examination of the articulation, construction and representation of 'the artificial' in contemporary speculative texts in relation to notions of identity, subjectivity and embodiment. Conventionally defined, the artificial marks objects and spaces which are outside of the natural order and thus also beyond the realm of subjectivity, and yet they are simultaneously produced and constructed by human ideas, labor and often technologies. Artificialities thus act as a boundary point against which subjectivity is often measured, even though that border is clearly drawn and re-drawn by human hands. Paradoxically, the artificial is, at times, also deployed to mark a realm where minds and bodies are separable, ostensibly devaluing the importance of embodiment. Speculative texts, which include science fiction and sim...

AI& Society : Springer , 2025

Technology, once a tool designed to serve humanity, has increasingly become an autonomous force that dictates human behavior and societal structures. Václav Havel’s assertion that technology has ceased to serve us and instead enslaved us highlights a crucial paradox of modernity: the very advancements that promised liberation now compel participation in systems that may lead to our destruction. This review critically examines 1 El Morr, C. (Ed.). (2022). AI and Society: Tensions and Opportunities (1st ed.). It explores the implications of technological determinism, exploring how unchecked technological growth erodes human autonomy, reinforces systemic control, and accelerates existential risks. By engaging with philosophical and ethical perspectives, the study interrogates whether technology can be reclaimed as a servant of humanity or if it has irreversibly become its master.