Nanotechnology, Anthropomorphic Matter and Human Machinery: An Exploration of the Longue Durée of Technological Vision

• A growing global trend of emerging innovation, nanotechnology is associated with a host of hopes for a new era for humankind. Reminiscent of the preoccupation of medieval alchemy with uncovering the ultimate secret of how to master matter and spirit, the idea of ‘molecular manufacturing’ that characterizes the more radical visionary approaches in nanotechnology is oriented towards the discovery and engineering of the fundamentals of life and matter. A desire not only to design and develop ‘intelligent’ artefacts and tools imbued with cognitive faculties, but also to technologically enhance humans themselves to defy illness, ageing and ultimately death, has from its inception constituted a core element of visionary nanotechnology. By drawing a historical parallel with medieval alchemy, this paper identifies and discusses visionary elements of nanotechnology conceptions of what it means to be human in relation to materiality and artefacts. The unstable and eroding boundaries actualized by nanotechnology – between what is considered intrinsically natural, technological or human, and what is not – are addressed from theoretical perspectives in anthropology and philosophy that pertain to the cultural and social dimensions of technology, material agency and cognition.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Nanoteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Nano-technology (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)