Raymond Kurzweil: mourning or technologies
Type de matériel :
71
This article analyzes Ray Kurzweil’s propositions in the context of his own path. Its aim is to demonstrate that these conceptions can shed new light on the Freudian ways of distinguishing grief and melancholy. The founder of Singularity University, financed by the firm Google, is regularly making astonishing announcements about the disruptive advancement of technology in the near future. While most experts agree on the speculative nature of these assertions, transhumanist ideology is infiltrating common discourse and shows the renewed topicality of eschatological dilemmas. We will examine the discourse of transhumanism in light of Ray Kurzweil’s words, highlighting the fact that his conception of the finite nature of humankind (his well-known wish to defeat death) came to him after the death of his own father. Kurzweil also indicates that his conception of an “immmortal” life requires the body to be specifically treated, as it needs to be monitored and processed in order to, in fine, become expendable (through “mind uploading”). We will show that the treatment of the body as a machine, or as waste, has multiple precedents in clinical psychopathology.
Réseaux sociaux