Normative Affordances Through and By Technology: Technological Mediation and Human Enhancement

Döbler, Niklas Alexander; Bartnik, Clemens

doi:10.9781/ijimai.2022.09.006

Cited by 8 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Ramstead, Veissière and Kirmayer (2016) emphasize how affordances are related to expectations, shared collections of which can form a "local ontology" and how the engagement with conventional affordances requires that agents can correctly infer their immersion in a specific set of expectations. Hence, for humans, affordances have a pronounced socio-material dimension (Bruineberg and Rietveld, 2014;Döbler and Bartnik, 2022;Ramstead, Veissière and Kirmayer, 2016;Rietveld, Denys and van Westen, 2018;Rietveld and Kiverstein, 2014).…”

Section: Affordancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is important to note how affordances can be shaped and mediated by human activity inside the respective environment. One crucial aspect here: Scientific instruments and their capability to perceive things otherwise hidden from humans (Döbler and Bartnik, 2022;Ihde, 2011). The evident astronomical example would be an optical telescope (cf.…”

Section: Mediated Affordancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Affordances in Outer Space: Forms of Life, Material Engagement, and Meaning within Space Exploration and SETI

Döbler¹,

Carbon²

2023

Preprint

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Exploration of outer space is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking endeavor. The fascination about what may be out there only matches by asking who might be out there. Exopsychology is concerned about how humans think about extraterrestrials, but also how extraterrestrials may think. It strives to find generalizable psychological theories to enrich the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Here, we apply the psychological theory of affordance (PTA) and specify the role of the relation between brain, body, environment, and material engagement in the context of SETI. Producing technosignatures requires that a species skillfully realizes the relevant possibilities for action, which the Umwelt offers in all its socio-material richness. These so-called are not fixed but relational to individual and collective available abilities and customs. A successful first contact requires a mutual attunement to species-typical diachronic backdrops, which constitute meaning. One possibility for a meaningful message form and content is the reference to the material environment and its respective engagement. Meaningfulness of affordances is conserved in a form of life and transmitted via social interaction. Considering the affordances within SETI fosters an understanding of how the thinking and behavior of life forms in the Universe emerge in relation to their material environment.

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Section: Affordancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mediated Affordancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Affordances in Outer Space: Forms of Life, Material Engagement, and Meaning within Space Exploration and SETI

Döbler¹,

Carbon²

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This may comprise artifacts, social agents, or their intertwining in shared practice [33]. Hence, for humans, affordances have a pronounced socio-material dimension [17,32,33,[35][36][37].…”

Section: An Optimal Grip Responsiveness and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Human activity can alter, shape, and mediate affordances [32,33,37]. One crucial aspect here: Scientific instruments and their capability to perceive things otherwise hidden from humans [37,46]. The evident astronomical example would be an optical telescope [46].…”

Section: Technology and Mediated Affordancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One possibility to alter this organism-environment relationship may be through the purposeful modification of the same environment, i.e., the realization of their intentions by their agentic abilities. Another option would be the deployment of technological instruments that allow for an altered relation to the world and lead to new affordances [37,46].…”

Section: Skilled Activity Cognition Orthanc and Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Affordances in outer space: Forms of life, material engagement, and meaning within space exploration and SETI

Döbler

Carbon

2023

Acta Astronautica

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Adapting Ourselves, Instead of the Environment: An Inquiry into Human Enhancement for Function and Beyond

Döbler,

Carbon

2023

Integr. psych. behav.

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Technology enables humans not only to adapt their environment to their needs but also to modify themselves. Means of Human Enhancement — embodied technologies to improve the human body’s capabilities or to create a new one — are the designated means of adapting ourselves instead of the environment. The debate about these technologies is typically fought on ethical soil. However, alarmist, utopian, and science fiction scenarios distract from the fact that Human Enhancement is a historical and pervasive phenomenon incorporated into many everyday practices. In the vein of disentangling conceptual difficulties, we claim that means of Human Enhancement are either physiologically or psychologically embodied, rendering the merging with the human user their most defining aspect. To fulfill its purpose, an enhancement must pass the test-in-the-world, i.e., assisting with effective engagement with a dynamic world. Even if failing in this regard: Human Enhancement is the fundamental and semi-targeted process of changing the users relationship with the world through the physical or psychological embodiment of a hitherto external object and/or change of one’s body. This can potentially change the notion of being human. Drawing on a rich body of theoretical and empirical literature, we aim to provide a nuanced analysis of the transformative nature of this phenomenon in close proximity to human practice. Stakeholders are invited to apply the theory presented here to interrogate their perspective on technology in general and Human Enhancement in particular.

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Normative Affordances Through and By Technology: Technological Mediation and Human Enhancement

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Affordances in Outer Space: Forms of Life, Material Engagement, and Meaning within Space Exploration and SETI

Affordances in Outer Space: Forms of Life, Material Engagement, and Meaning within Space Exploration and SETI

Affordances in outer space: Forms of life, material engagement, and meaning within space exploration and SETI

Adapting Ourselves, Instead of the Environment: An Inquiry into Human Enhancement for Function and Beyond

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