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Vanessa Vaile

Steve Fuller - Who Will Recognise Humanity 2.0 - And Will It Recognise Us? - 0 views

  • : What is the story that leads up to humanity 2.0 and is it co-extensive with the history of science? ‘
  • transhumanism: a term that he’s careful to distinguish from posthumanism. Posthumanism, he explains, takes a Darwinian standpoint on life; it’s a ‘species egalitarian view’ in which there is a definite respect for life, but no respect for the qualities of human beings that distinguish us from other life-forms. ‘There is no humanity 2.0 in this picture, there’s just post-humanity,’
  • Darwin was very reluctant to support movements in the late 19th-century that we would now associate with transhumanist thinking, such as eugenics and vivisection
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  • process in human evolution, and that we could potentially take control of it, emerged in the 1930s with figures like Sir Julian Huxley.
  • one organism that can understand the whole thing - and then take control of it. That was the promise of transhumanism
  • The next phase of transhumanism is the converging technologies agenda: ‘The particular technologies we’re talking about are based on nanotechnology, biotechnology, information science and the cognitive sciences.
  • r for the purpose of enhancing human beings,
  • push-back in the idea that humans can raise themselves to this higher level and governments have always been worried about these advance forms of technology and knowledge actually getting into the hands of people who can use them for their own purpose
  • no overarching, normative sense of humanity
  • Steve Fuller is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick. Originally trained in history and philosophy of science, he is best known for his work in the field of ‘social epistemology’, which is concerned with the normative foundations of organized inquiry.
Chris Swift

Occupy Your Brain - 3 views

  • Once learning is institutionalized under a central authority, both freedom for the individual and respect for the local are radically curtailed. 
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    An impassioned essay calling for an end the restrictive fear and rigidity of top down education.Instead let us learn from the wisdom of indigenous cultures and be free to learn, imagine, wander, and be more human - less mass produced. "If the internet is the collective intelligence of human beings connecting across the dimension of digital space, then indigenous wisdom is the collective intelligence of human beings connecting across the dimension of time."
César E. Concepción-Acevedo

Technological Determinism: Technological Autonomy - 0 views

  • 'autonomy' is a key concept in Western liberalism
    • César E. Concepción-Acevedo
       
      I dont think that the key concept unique to humans is autonomy, after all machines can execute autonomous comands and processes. However, i agree with Morin and Numann when they state that the uniqueness and essential diference of machines is humans is that the later can regenerate.
  • Referring to standardized human behaviour and to what he calls the 'invisible technology' of language as well as to machines, Postman argues that 'Technique, like any other technology, tends to function independently of the system it serves. It becomes autonomous, in the manner of a robot that no longer obeys its master' (Postman 1993, p. 142).
  • The Frankenstein Syndrome: One creates a machine for a particular and limited purpose. But once the machine is built, we discover, always to our surprise - that it has ideas of its own; that it is quite capable not only of changing our habits but... of changing our habits of mind' (Postman 1983, p. 23).
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  • they are 'always unpredictable'
  • The notion that technological developments arise to 'fill needs' is reflected in the myth that 'necessity is the mother of invention'. It presents technology as a benevolent servant of the human species. But as Carroll Purcell puts it, 'many modern "needs" are themselves inventions, the product of an economy that stimulates consumption so that it can make and market things for a profit' (Purcell 1994, p. 40).
Chris Swift

Online courses need human element to educate - 9 views

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    "..the best of MOOCs should be able to bring together ideal, heterogeneous groupings of students based on their profiles and past performance, and also create ample opportunities for them to engage with one another in the spirit of learning. Perhaps this spirit of mutual aid is what built the Internet in the first place. Now that this massive collaborative learning project has succeeded, it would be a shame if we used it to take the humanity out of learning altogether."
Helen Crump

We Aren't All Cyborgs... Yet - 0 views

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    Can these devices that alienate those around us, actually make us more human? Case Amber argues that our phones are wormholes in our pocket, connecting us in a practical and efficient way with loved ones?
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    Includes good TED Talk video (7 mins) outlining cyborg anthropology - how humans are interacting with new digital tools to extend/connect minds and selves.
Chris Swift

Is Google Making Us Stupid? - Nicholas Carr - The Atlantic - 5 views

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    " In the world of '2001: A Space Odyssey', people have become so machinelike that the most human character turns out to be a machine. That's the essence of Kubrick's dark prophecy: as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence."
 Céline  Keller

Technological determinism / Neil Postman | KrustelKram's Adventures in Online Learning - 0 views

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    "Every teacher should begin every course making a little speech to the students, that would go along these lines: Hey look I am a fallible human being so during the duration of this course I am bound to make lots of mistakes. I will say things that are untrue. I will give opinions that are unfounded.Your job as a student is to pay a lot of attention and try to identify when I made a mistake. And then try to show me and your classmates where I made that mistake." Neil Postman "Textbooks present facts and information...and teach kids that subjects are boring, when in fact they are not." Neil Postman Link collection and videos on Neil Postman
Chris Swift

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world - 3 views

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    Jane argues, "If we want to solve global problems we need to aspire to play more games online. Games are essential to the survival of the human species"
Chris Jobling

Jisc Digital Literacy Webinar: Multimodal Profusion in the Massive Open Online Course |... - 0 views

  • The profusion of multimodal artefacts produced in response to the EDCMOOC will provide a number of examples with which to explore sociomaterialism in relation to literacy practices online.
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    "This webinar presents a view of digital literacy through a discussion of E-learning and Digital Cultures (known as EDCMOOC), a Massive Open Online Course offered in January 2013 by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Coursera. The profusion of multimodal artefacts produced in response to the EDCMOOC will provide a number of examples with which to explore sociomaterialism in relation to literacy practices online. It will be suggested that this work constitutes a set of sociomaterial entanglements, in which human beings and technologies each play a part. By looking at these examples, we will suggest that sociomaterial multimodality offers a different way of thinking about digital literacy: not as a set of representational practices, but rather as complex enactments of knowledge, specific to particular contexts and moments." What does this even mean? This is a sample of the language of #edcmooc and it's a barrier to entry.
Michael Porterfield

Professor Creates Engaging Online Learning Environment | SJSU News - 1 views

  • Communication is key to successful online teaching as well. Being present on the course site and answering questions directed to me are a given, but I also work at consistent updating. If I’m traveling to speak at a library or conference, I let my students know. If I’m at a conference, I’ll share links and insights. My students have done the same, using Twitter or their class blogs to share their own opinions and takeaways from attending professional conferences. The sharing and communication can be informal, and it strengthens the feeling of community. The best teachers understand that technology use in coursework is not just for the sake of technology but to extend and enhance the learning process. Recently, Michael Wesch from the University of Kansas responded to an article about his advocacy for participatory technologies in coursework. His eloquent statement resonates with me: “My main point is that participatory teaching methods simply will not work if they do not begin with a deep bond between teacher and student.  Importantly, this bond must be built through mutual respect, care, and an ongoing effort to know and understand one another.” The sage on the stage in giant lecture halls is giving way to a collaborative, hyperconnected world of newer methods and channels of learning, but the human connection can and should remain. Bring yourself to your online teaching – share, be authentic and connect with students via the heart and the keyboard.
Chris Swift

BBC Radio 4 - Digital Human - 4 views

shared by Chris Swift on 28 Dec 12 - No Cached
Helen Crump liked it
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    Interesting BBC radio series from Aleks Krotoski covering topics such as "What is the biggest threat to privacy: governments, corporate entities or our friends?", "Is control over one's digital life an illusion? And what happens if control is lost?", " if we have all become cyborgs without even knowing it."
Chris Swift

Living in a Post-Human World | Michio Kaku | Big Think - 0 views

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    "We will become the gods that we once feared."
Chris Swift

Transhumanism and Posthumanism podcast - 3 views

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    What is the future of humanity? What limits should we impose on our biotechnological and other scientific developments - what will happen when we don't?
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