Instructor: Jules Delisle

Framed by the debate on technology and humanity between Günther Anders and Hans Jonas, the course will explore Prometheanism and technological arms races from the era of medieval warfare to the atomic bomb. Focusing on the use of God-like technology, human capacity for losing control of what we have created, and the ethical responsibility of managing the catastrophic consequences of our ‘progress,’ we will discuss transhumanism, eugenics, and the shame engineering humans experience at natural imperfections in a silicon and efficiency-driven ideological landscape. The desire to bring about technology that ends death and perfectly preserves knowledge has resulted in a toxic world where human agency is nullified and omnicide appears inescapable. Having generated the capacity for self-annihilation, how can humanity defend itself from its own technology and regain control of our fate? Can the shem be removed from the mouth of the golem?