Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology

by David J. Gunkel

Ethics is customarily understood as being concerned with questions of responsibility for and in the face of an other who is like we assume ourselves to be. Such an anthropocentric presumption has been significantly challenged by computer technology, intelligent systems, virtual realities, and cybernetics, all of which introduce the possibility of others that are and remain otherwise. Thinking Otherwise investigates the unique challenges, complications, and possibilities introduced by these different forms of otherness. The author formulates alternative ways of proceeding that are able to respond to and to be responsible for these other different forms of otherness in order to generate and develop alternative ways of thinking that are and remain oriented otherwise.

228 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

David J. Gunkel is Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of The Machine Question, Of Remixology, Robot Rights (all published by the MIT Press), and other books.

Reviews

[Megan Mcdowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

In chapter one of this book, Gunkel leads the reader through an explication of increasingly more sophisticated ways of thinking through the binary relationships that govern the way humans view the world, and posits the virtual reality debate as a reflection of this thinking. He ends with a measured endorsement of a post-structuralist approach, which, simply put, consists of an endless questioning of seemingly oppositional concepts in order to arrive at what is best termed an “interface”. Thus, in looking at VR, instead of considering two opposing points of view (technological dystopianism vs. utopianism), it is better to look at the shared assumptions that make the two views possible, creating new interpretive possibilities. In the following chapters, he applies this approach to various aspects of technology, including the book, the digital divide, and drugs and media technology, with intriguing results. More accessible than Derrida or Heidegger, but by no means simplistic.