Technological rule substitutes causality for choice and effaces the Other

Evidence

The unconstrained rule of technology means that causal determination is substituted for purpose and choice. Indeed, no intellectual or moral reference point seems to be conceivable from which to assess, evaluate and criticize the directions technology may take except for the sober evaluation of possibilities technology itself has created. The reason of means is at its most triumphant when ends finally peter out in the quicksand of problem-solving. … More thoroughly than any other known form of social organization, the society that surrenders to the no-more challenged or constrained rule of technology has effaced the human face of the Other and thus pushed the adiaphorization of human sociability to a yet-to-be-fathomed depth. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 623

Categorization

• XREF: ‘Adiaphorization of human sociability’ is a key concept the reader’s toolkit needs for biopolitics readings — how moral weight is stripped from categories of persons. — connects to: Identity is constituted through splitting and an interiorized Other, not pure difference.; Colonial selfhood is constituted through the violent gaze of the Other.; Global events normalized Islamophobic discourse and made Muslims the ultimate Other — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia: Still a Challenge for Us…, 255 (+10 more)

Related

• Modern society weakens morality through distance, technical responsibility, and segregation (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• In this Article, Professor Schauer examines divergent uses of the term ‘formalism’ to elucidate its descriptive content. Conceptions of formalism, he argues, involve the notion that rules… #expands (0.80)
• Moral consistency can be learned rule-following rather than an innate disposition #corroborates (0.75) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 503