Humans and Technologies: Assemblage Modes

Abstract

The article deals with the field of techno-somatic interaction modes and ongoing human biology transformations beyond the conventional biotechnological manipulations. There are three broad trends in dealing with the interface of the human body and technology: 1) "technicalization" of the body; 2) "somatization" of technical appliances and infrastructures in viewing them as  "external organs"; 3) synthetic view on "humanity cum technical milieu" as a fundamental unit in human evolution, the unique way of being human. These trends are illustrated by the relevant positions of such philosophers of technology and body as Ernst Kapp, Alfred Espinas, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Bernard Stiegler, as well as of sociologists and anthropologists (Marcel Mauss, André Leroi-Gourhan). It is argued that the intrinsic technicity of humans is corroborated by the current evidence of the human body and technology continuing co-evolution that necessitates ethical expertise of all technical innovations as essentially "bio-technological".