There is little doubt that we are living in a technological age even if “technology” in a broad sense is co-extensive with human existence insofar as human beings have been tool-makers and tool-users. Nevertheless, the current global age is sometimes called the “anthropocene” to designate a geological and chronological age marked by the global evidence and extent that now characterizes human action and power. Technology as the engine driving the anthropocene is then absolutely central to this project and to Enhancing Life Studies as a whole. There is, however, an elusive “law” that seems to characterize contemporary technological innovation and expression that is the inverse of deep cultural assumption in the West. That deep assumption in the “socio-cultural imaginary” is this: “ought implies can,” that is, insofar as human beings live by social, political, economic, and religious obligations and codes, then, fundamentally, they are free creatures who can orient their lives. The embedded socio-cultural assumption in much current technology seems to invert the prior assumption: “can implies ought.” That is to say, technological advancement enhancing what we can do, the range of human activities ought to become its own aim. This inversion of principles, as we could call it, leads both to the unfettered celebration of technology in itself and to strident attacks on technologically enhancing enhancing life. Are there other options for thought?
What is submerged, what is implicit, and what is not sufficiently examined? Where can “Enhancing Life Studies” make a difference? Where do we want to shift scholarly attention?
As noted Enhancing Life Studies see technology as basic to human existence, but it also seeks the spiritual laws and related principles that will allow us to grasp the full flourishing of life and in measureable ways. In this way, the Project seeks to articulate what is the proper aim of freedom and what are the aims of the technological imaginary and technological engineering, both bringing about technological transformations for enhancing life. In other words, the maximizing of both freedom and technological means in social and personal life must be oriented not simply to more freedom and greater technological achievements, but to the enhancing of life in all its forms and dimensions by truly enabling and enhancing technology.
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