Artifice and authenticity: the extended self and modern information technology
People's lives have been radically changed by recent advances in information and communication technology (ICT). We are increasingly - and more and more tightly - integrating our cognitive capacities with computers, changing the ways we think, know, and communicate. Additionally, recent research on the embedded and extended mind asserts that we are not simply using technology but rather that technology is an essential part of who we are.
Most of today's ICT is closed off to the user, presenting itself as an elegant but opaque black box designed to be used intuitively, neither necessitating nor allowing an understanding of its inner workings. If technology is an integral part of our selves, then this critically endangers our abilities of self-reflection and autonomous self-development.
In my research project, I combine the philosophy of mind and cognitive science with moral philosophy in order to analyse how our selves are extended by ICT and what implications this has for our autonomy and authenticity. Firstly, I formulate a concept of the self that is in accordance with recent empirical findings, with particular focus on how we integrate technology into our cognitive systems.
Subsequently, I analyse what authenticity means for such an embedded and extended self. Finally, I apply this framework to our use of ICT. Here, I will analyse how ICTs may challenge or enhance our capacity to live autonomous and authentic lives.