Shaping self and world: technology and the structure of space

Abstract

Much of human existence is mediated through, if not outright dependent on, technology. This includes our experience of space, not as a scientifically quantified structure containing all things, but rather as a region of action and perception. What I shall call lived space arises through activity and perception in the world; it is thus the result of a constitutive act and not something pre-existing 'out there' in the world. Technology is a way to perceive and act in the world, thus the technology that is available will determine in part how lived space is constituted. But the human is not simply a disinterested user of technology as a tool. There is a feedback effect, whereby the self is shaped through its encounter with technology. By exploring Heideggerian phenomenology of space and technology, I will thus argue that space and self are structured by technology.