“We shape our tools, and in turn they shape us” summarizes a core idea of Marshall McLuhan, a famous Canadian theoretician of technology. Following up on this idea, this presentation will investigate the relation between identity—our sense of self—and technologies. In traditional societies, the use of tools was typically tied to social roles, such as gender roles and professional roles. People built a sense of self in orientation to their life-long roles and in connection with the tools they used on a daily basis. In modernity, tools were increasingly mass marketed to any and all individuals as consumer goods. Books or cars, for instance, were linked to a new sense of self focused on originality, difference, and liberation. Today, in the age of digital technologies and AI, tools are increasingly put in the service of self-branding: we use new media to curate profiles of ourselves, and in turn they profile us.
Hans-Georg Moeller is a Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Macau. He authored numerous books including You and Your Profile: Identity after Authenticity, Genuine Pretending: On the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi (both with Paul D’Ambrosio), The Moral Fool: A Case for Amorality, The Radical Luhmann, and The Philosophy of the Daodejing, (all with Columbia University Press). He is content creator of the YouTube philosophy channels Carefree Wandering and Philosophy in Motion.
Admission is free.