Social Engineering
Associate Professor Ľubica Učník
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LECTURE ABSTRACT:
In this lecture, we will draw out the implications of the public lecture series Crisis of Modern Self and Society for our everyday life. The reduction of science to its technological applications and its overstepping, not only into human sciences, but also into our daily routines leads to the seemingly prophetic dream of social engineering. This dream goes back to the 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment or Reason. In the wake of the two World Wars, the dream became a nightmare for many but never completely died out. The latest embodiment of this dream, we will claim, is the shift from the concept of the citizen to the consumer, from democracy to the market, from reason to the quantified self, from solidarity to “body hacks.”
RECOMMENDED READING:
What is Enlightenment? by Immanuel Kant
Franken-algorithms: the Deadly Consequences of Unpredictable Code
Do Your Genes Determine Your Entire Life?
PERTH PHILOSOPHY CIRCLE 