They are found research papers related with man, machine, technology, organism and mechanism.
01. Philosophy in biology
ORGANISM AND MECHANISM
A Critique of Mechanistic Thinking in Biology
Submitted by Daniel James Nicholson to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy In September 2010
01. Philosophy in biology
ORGANISM AND MECHANISM
A Critique of Mechanistic Thinking in Biology
Submitted by Daniel James Nicholson to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy In September 2010
ABSTRACT
In this thesis I present a critical examination of the role played by mechanistic ideas in
shaping our understanding of living systems. I draw on a combination of historical,
philosophical, and scientific resources to uncover a number of problems which I take
to result from the adoption of mechanistic thinking in biology.
I provide an analysis of the historical development of the conflict between mechanistic and vitalistic conceptions of life since the seventeenth century, and I argue that the basic terms of this conflict remain central to current disputes over the nature of the organism as well as the question of how far the theories, concepts, and methods of physics, chemistry, and engineering can ultimately take us in the explanation of life.
I offer a detailed critique of the machine conception of the organism, which constitutes the central unifying idea of mechanistic biology. I argue that this notion, despite its undeniable heuristic value, is fundamentally inadequate as a theory of the organism due to a number of basic differences between organisms and machines. Ultimately, I suggest that the neglected vitalistic tradition in biology actually possesses the best conceptual tools for coming to terms with the nature of living systems.
I also undertake a philosophical analysis of the concept of mechanism in biology. I argue that the term ‘mechanism’ is actually an umbrella term for three distinct notions, which are unfortunately conflated in philosophical discussions. I explore the relation between mechanistic biology and the new philosophical interest in the concept of mechanism and I show that these two research programs have little to do with one another because each of them understands the concept of mechanism in a different way.
Finally, I draw on the historical and philosophical foundations of cell theory to propose an epistemological perspective which enables the reductionistic explanation of the organism without having to give up the distinctive features of life in the process. In this way, I show this perspective to have significant advantages over the classic physicochemical reductionism of mechanistic biology.
I provide an analysis of the historical development of the conflict between mechanistic and vitalistic conceptions of life since the seventeenth century, and I argue that the basic terms of this conflict remain central to current disputes over the nature of the organism as well as the question of how far the theories, concepts, and methods of physics, chemistry, and engineering can ultimately take us in the explanation of life.
I offer a detailed critique of the machine conception of the organism, which constitutes the central unifying idea of mechanistic biology. I argue that this notion, despite its undeniable heuristic value, is fundamentally inadequate as a theory of the organism due to a number of basic differences between organisms and machines. Ultimately, I suggest that the neglected vitalistic tradition in biology actually possesses the best conceptual tools for coming to terms with the nature of living systems.
I also undertake a philosophical analysis of the concept of mechanism in biology. I argue that the term ‘mechanism’ is actually an umbrella term for three distinct notions, which are unfortunately conflated in philosophical discussions. I explore the relation between mechanistic biology and the new philosophical interest in the concept of mechanism and I show that these two research programs have little to do with one another because each of them understands the concept of mechanism in a different way.
Finally, I draw on the historical and philosophical foundations of cell theory to propose an epistemological perspective which enables the reductionistic explanation of the organism without having to give up the distinctive features of life in the process. In this way, I show this perspective to have significant advantages over the classic physicochemical reductionism of mechanistic biology.
02. Man and Machine
Man and Machine in the 1960s by Sungook Hong
“Remember your humanity and forget the rest.”
Introduction
Man and Machine in the 1960s by Sungook Hong
“Remember your humanity and forget the rest.”
Introduction
In 1960, the father of cybernetics Norbert Wiener published a short article
titled “Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation” in Science.
Wiener distinguished here between industrial machines in the time of Samuel
Butler (1835-1902, the author of the novel on the dominance of humans by
machines, Erehwon) and intelligent machines of his time. Machines circa
1960 had become very effective and even dangerous, Wiener stated, since
they possessed “a certain degree of thinking and communication” and
transcended the limitations of their designers. Describing in detail game-
playing and learning machines, he contemplated a hypothetical situation in
which such cybernetic machines were programmed to push a button in a
“push-button” nuclear war. Simply by following the programmed rules of the
game, Wiener warned, these machines would probably do anything to win a
nominal victory even at the cost of human survival. Since machines became
so fast, smart, and irrevocable, humans, unlike humans in the industrial age,
“may not know, until too late, when to turn it off.” The fictional dominance
of humans by machines, which Butler had worried about and vividly depicted
in his Ehehwon, had been transformed into a reality (Wiener 1960, 1355-
1358).
Wiener’s essay symbolized the beginning of a new conception of the man- machine relationship in the 1960s. The sixties witnessed the Cuban missile crisis, the Apollo Project, the counter-culture movement, Vietnam and student protests, political assassinations, the civil-rights and feminist movement, the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) and the beginning of the environmental movement. To some the sixties was a Golden Age or “mini-renaissance”; to others it was the age of the disintegration of traditional values.
The sixties was also an age of new science and technology, for which people had high hopes, as well as deepest fears. “Quarks. Quasars. Lasers. Apollo. Heart transplants. Computers. Nylon. Color TV. Pampers. The Pill. LSD. Napalm. DDT. Thalidomide. Mutual Assured Destruction. Star Trek. Dr. Strangelove. The Sixties had them all” (Moy 2001, p. 305). In molecular genetics, the structure and the function of RNA and the mechanism of genetic coding were discovered. In technology, satellite communication became popular, and man landed on the moon in 1969. The introduction of contraceptive pills in the early 1960s helped trigger the sexual revolution, and progress in other medical technologies—the synthesis of insulin, new vaccines, and transplantation of organs (tissue, kidney, heart, lung and larynx)—were notable. Electrical technologies such as color TVs and music players, as well as computers, became more popular. Some technologies, however, were tightly linked to war. Dwight Eisenhower explicitly warned in his farewell address in January 1961 about the dangers of the “military- industrial complex.” The “electronic battlefield” introduced by the US government during the Vietnam War simulated enemy movement electronically. The rapid stockpiling of hydrogen bombs heightened fears of total annihilation (Mendelsohn 1994). Criticizing “man-made pollutants that threaten to destroy life on this earth,” Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring compares nuclear fallout to pesticides like DDT, which was itself a product of America’s “total war against human and insect enemies” during WWII. Films such as Fail-Safe (1964), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Colossus (1970) depicted frightening relationships between humans and new technologies such as the control box of the nuclear bombers (fail-safe box), the Doomsday Machine, and intelligent computers.
This paper will discuss new conceptions and ideas about the relationship between man and machine that emerged in the 1960s. Although t h e domination of humans by machines has always been a feature of critical commentaries on technologies, the relationship between man and machines in the 1960s had some unique features. Automation with cybernetic and flexible machines, which had begun in the 1950s, created widespread concerns and debates in the 1960s. Cybernetics, systems theory, and intelligent computers blurred the strict boundary between machine and organism, forcing people to rethink the nature of human intelligence and understanding. Machine and technology became part of what it meant to be a human. However, man-made machines—chemical pollutants and defoliants, the electronic battlefield, and the hydrogen bomb in particular—began to threaten the very existence of humans. In this paradoxical and uncertain context, an alternative essence of humanity was sought to save humans from the threat of automation and total annihilation. I will show that the heart of humanity shifted from the realm of intelligence to that of emotions and feelings.
Wiener’s essay symbolized the beginning of a new conception of the man- machine relationship in the 1960s. The sixties witnessed the Cuban missile crisis, the Apollo Project, the counter-culture movement, Vietnam and student protests, political assassinations, the civil-rights and feminist movement, the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) and the beginning of the environmental movement. To some the sixties was a Golden Age or “mini-renaissance”; to others it was the age of the disintegration of traditional values.
The sixties was also an age of new science and technology, for which people had high hopes, as well as deepest fears. “Quarks. Quasars. Lasers. Apollo. Heart transplants. Computers. Nylon. Color TV. Pampers. The Pill. LSD. Napalm. DDT. Thalidomide. Mutual Assured Destruction. Star Trek. Dr. Strangelove. The Sixties had them all” (Moy 2001, p. 305). In molecular genetics, the structure and the function of RNA and the mechanism of genetic coding were discovered. In technology, satellite communication became popular, and man landed on the moon in 1969. The introduction of contraceptive pills in the early 1960s helped trigger the sexual revolution, and progress in other medical technologies—the synthesis of insulin, new vaccines, and transplantation of organs (tissue, kidney, heart, lung and larynx)—were notable. Electrical technologies such as color TVs and music players, as well as computers, became more popular. Some technologies, however, were tightly linked to war. Dwight Eisenhower explicitly warned in his farewell address in January 1961 about the dangers of the “military- industrial complex.” The “electronic battlefield” introduced by the US government during the Vietnam War simulated enemy movement electronically. The rapid stockpiling of hydrogen bombs heightened fears of total annihilation (Mendelsohn 1994). Criticizing “man-made pollutants that threaten to destroy life on this earth,” Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring compares nuclear fallout to pesticides like DDT, which was itself a product of America’s “total war against human and insect enemies” during WWII. Films such as Fail-Safe (1964), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Colossus (1970) depicted frightening relationships between humans and new technologies such as the control box of the nuclear bombers (fail-safe box), the Doomsday Machine, and intelligent computers.
This paper will discuss new conceptions and ideas about the relationship between man and machine that emerged in the 1960s. Although t h e domination of humans by machines has always been a feature of critical commentaries on technologies, the relationship between man and machines in the 1960s had some unique features. Automation with cybernetic and flexible machines, which had begun in the 1950s, created widespread concerns and debates in the 1960s. Cybernetics, systems theory, and intelligent computers blurred the strict boundary between machine and organism, forcing people to rethink the nature of human intelligence and understanding. Machine and technology became part of what it meant to be a human. However, man-made machines—chemical pollutants and defoliants, the electronic battlefield, and the hydrogen bomb in particular—began to threaten the very existence of humans. In this paradoxical and uncertain context, an alternative essence of humanity was sought to save humans from the threat of automation and total annihilation. I will show that the heart of humanity shifted from the realm of intelligence to that of emotions and feelings.
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