ON THE WAY TO TECHNICALIZING THE LIVING AND THE HUMAN PROPER: FROM PRAGMATICS TO A DREAM

Abstract

Introduction. The universality of modern technology testifies to a certain mode of its existence. It manifests itself in the fact that there is practically not a single segment of the modern world, not a single sphere of culture where technology has not spread its influence - direct or indirect / anonymous. On the basis of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that technology is both a tradition and a logic built into the tradition, and the realization of a special existential orientation, an embodiment of a special kind. The purpose of the study is to reveal whether its essence is connected only with the pragmatic function of technology, or whether there is a special symbolic beginning in technology, which takes technology beyond the scope of rational use. Methods. The authors apply the structuralist method that makes it possible to reveal structures behind the everyday understanding of technology that can generate semantic layers. The structuralist method is complemented by the phenomenological method, since the identified structures constitute the symbolic foundations of technical reality. The phenomenological method makes it possible to reveal the “hidden care” of a person, the target reason for the existence of technology. Scientific novelty of the research. The article reveals the deep meaning of the target cause of the technique. The technical is aimed at overcoming natural barriers, creating artificial natures, with its own special logic of existence. The material properties of things allow the permeability and conditionality of all qualitative obstacles. Quantitative homogeneity, the permeability of all qualities makes the boundaries between the types of living things conditional. There is no line of demarcation not only within life (the theory of evolution is based on this), but also between the living and the non-living. It is possible that there is no boundary between the temporal and the immortal. Results. The desire of mankind to overcome time is embodied in the being of technology. Mankind strives to conquer nature, to overcome all the barriers that the natural world continues to put up, in order to bypass natural laws to enter the realm of absolute freedom, which connects with immortality. The created technical things themselves have certain laws for implementing a technical idea and limit technical creativity, but the meaning of technical creation is to overcome any restrictions. Man is a technician, because he is the self-willed transformer of the world. There is a revolutionary charge in technology that changes the world to human request. The technique embodies the struggle of a desperate being with the rejection of his fate, his mortal fate. Conclusions. Despite the fact that science positions itself as rational, sober knowledge, nevertheless, the old dream of overcoming the barrier of death has not gone away. At the present stage, technology is trying to realize this dream through implementing safety, comfort, quality medical care, and an increase in life expectancy. Everything technical is centered on the problem of “life and death”.