Günther Anders – författare

Now available in English—one of the twentieth century’s most important works on the philosophy of technologyWith this first English translation of influential German philosopher GÜnther Anders’s 1956 masterpiece of critical theory, The Obsolescence of the Human, a new generation of readers can now engage with his prescient and haunting vision of a “world without us” dominated by technology. Looking at technological events such as the detonation of the nuclear bomb and the arrival of televisions in our living rooms, Anders advances a warning of what humanity looks like in a world where it has surrendered all agency. He outlines the new emotional landscapes that shape our relationship to increasingly capable technology, including Promethean shame, the human sense of unease our own superior technological innovations can instill. Confronting the growing gap between what we can collectively create and what we can individually comprehend, Anders speculates on the trajectory of a developing technological world that rapidly exceeds our ability to control or even foresee its negative consequences. The Obsolescence of the Human prefigures contemporary posthumanist discourse and is eerily predictive of current debates around automation, global warming, and artificial intelligence. Providing new ways to conceptualize the intersection of technology and emotion, it offers groundbreaking frameworks for future-oriented ethics. Radical in both its stylistic experimentation and its theoretical insights, this new translation presents a cautionary tale regarding the human capacity to usher in its own destruction. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.

Now available in English—one of the twentieth century’s most important works on the philosophy of technologyWith this first English translation of influential German philosopher GÜnther Anders’s 1956 masterpiece of critical theory, The Obsolescence of the Human, a new generation of readers can now engage with his prescient and haunting vision of a “world without us” dominated by technology. Looking at technological events such as the detonation of the nuclear bomb and the arrival of televisions in our living rooms, Anders advances a warning of what humanity looks like in a world where it has surrendered all agency. He outlines the new emotional landscapes that shape our relationship to increasingly capable technology, including Promethean shame, the human sense of unease our own superior technological innovations can instill. Confronting the growing gap between what we can collectively create and what we can individually comprehend, Anders speculates on the trajectory of a developing technological world that rapidly exceeds our ability to control or even foresee its negative consequences. The Obsolescence of the Human prefigures contemporary posthumanist discourse and is eerily predictive of current debates around automation, global warming, and artificial intelligence. Providing new ways to conceptualize the intersection of technology and emotion, it offers groundbreaking frameworks for future-oriented ethics. Radical in both its stylistic experimentation and its theoretical insights, this new translation presents a cautionary tale regarding the human capacity to usher in its own destruction. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.

»Wenn unser Überleben auf der Tagesordnung steht, dann werden Bücher, wie die von Günther Anders, benötigt, die das Bewusstsein verbreiten und stärken, dass wir – vielleicht – die Grenze unserer Existenz erreicht haben«Aus der Urkunde des Theodor-W.-Adorno-Preises 1983Im Vorwort der Erstausgabe schrieb Günther Anders: "Nicht unmöglich, dass sich durch das Gelingen der vietnamesischen Offensive die Lage radikal zum Guten wendet, oder – wer weiß? – durch den Einsatz taktischer nuklearer Waffen radikal zum Schlimmen wenden werde. Und durchaus nicht undenkbar, dass sich unter Umständen die Frage erheben wird, ob denn die hier vorgelegten Analysen (unterstellt, sie seien zur Zeit ihrer Niederschrift gültig gewesen) auch heute noch gültig seien." Angesichts des russischen Angriffskriegs in der Ukraine, ist man geneigt, diese "Vermutung" zu bejahen. Denn ersetzt man "vietnamesische Offensive" mit "ukrainischer Offensive" und denkt beim "Einsatz taktischer nuklearer Waffen" nicht an amerikanische (was seinerzeit nicht unmöglich war und dann doch nicht stattfand, obwohl amerikanische Militärs darauf gedrängt hatten), sondern an russische, dann haben die Äußerungen des Philosophen Anders etwas sehr "Realpolitisches".