Transhumanism is an emerging philosophical and social movement that aims, through technology, to extend human life and radically expand intellectual, physical, and psychological capabilities. Many of transhumanism's goals overlap the eschatological hopes of Christians, such as the elimination of sickness and death. Yet observers who see transhumanism and Christianity in monolithic terms often portray them as adversaries. Against this view, I argue that within each community are factions that have comparable, but contested, views on God, the divine attributes, and human origins, responsibility, and destiny. As a result, an emerging dialog between particular transhumanists and Christians seeks to shape the future of humanity by integrating the basic commitments of transhumanism and Christianity. Bruno Latour's concept of modes of existence offers a framework for both developing and analyzing diplomacy between and within Christian and transhumanist communities. Specifically, Latour's work allows for the identification of category mistakes that set the terms of intermodal conflicts and dialog. Some transhumanists and most Christians hold beliefs about the nature and meaning of God. Christians believe in a Trinitarian God that is the preexistent, eternal, and personal creator of the universe. By contrast, elements of the transhumanist movement believe that in the future an artificial God will inevitably emerge as an omniscient and omnipotent supercomputer. The attributes, concepts and purposes of God and, by extension, nature lend a basis for developing diplomatic relationships between factions of transhumanism and Christianity. Diplomacy between transhumanism and Christianity exists via social media and virtual meeting places. At the forefront of this movement is a new Christian Transhumanist Association that I analyze in some depth. It is only a couple of years old, but its leaders have already attracted international attention. Their strategy of theological minimalism seeks to reduce friction among stakeholders. I show that this strategy sacrifices the insights that Christian theology and philosophy could bring to the development of transhumanism. I conclude that in order to affect transhumanism Christians must find ways to apply their insights into personal creator-creature relationships to the challenges of safely developing artificial superintelligence. / Ph. D. / Progress in science and technology raises the possibility that essential elements of human life could be transformed and enhanced by applications of science and technology. <i>Transhumanism</i> is a philosophical and social movement that believes that such transformations are both possible and desirable. In several respects, transhumanism’s goals overlap with the hopes of Christians, who long for a Second Coming of Christ and the subsequent elimination of sin, suffering, and death for all eternity. Based on Bruno Latour’s work, I analyze the superficial similarities between transhumanism and Christianity to argue that diplomacy between Christians and transhumanists is both possible and potentially beneficial. In developing this argument, I examine a new <i>Christian Transhumanist Association</i>, its leaders, and their diplomatic strategy of “theological minimalism.” I argue that this strategy is flawed because it does not apply the rich insights of orthodox, biblical theology to the most vexing problem of transhumanism development: the threat that an artificial superintelligence could be hostile to human life.

L'objectif de cette étude est de mettre en lumière, chez certains architectes, l'existence d'un type inédit de relation au passé, autorisant un type inédit de lecture de l'Histoire. Benjamin écrit: certains transmettent les choses en les rendant intangibles et en les conservant ; d'autres transmettent les situations en les rendant maniables et en les liquidant. Ce sont ces derniers que l'on appelle les destructeurs. Ainsi, nombre d'œuvres modernes à l'apparence austère ne résulteraient-elles pas d'un long processus de transformation jalonné de disparitions successives ? Je ferai l'hypothèse que certains architectes -dont Le Corbusier- s'insèrent dans ce paradoxe en mettant au point des techniques de projet qui ne relèvent ni d'une dialectique continuité-rupture, ni d'un travail sur la référence : j'appellerai transposition le travail consistant à se greffer sur la genèse d'un dispositif architectural pour l'accélérer, par l'actualisation exhaustive de ses modes d'existence. Car si Jeanneret se détache de la culture de son époque dès le Voyage d'Orient, c'est parce qu'il ne prend pas le dispositif architectural pour une entité inerte, extrapolable à souhait : il y reconnaît, au contraire, un objet technique susceptible de produire des effets à la manière d'une machine à perceptions. Son attitude consisterait dès lors à visiter la tradition, non pour extraire des références à usage projectuel, mais un savoir sur le pouvoir que possèdent certains objets de produire des effets. J'explorerai comment il met en place des techniques de projet, véritables manières de faire consistant à intervenir sur des types architecturaux consacrés pour produire des objets techniques concrets / The goal of the thesis is to bring out, in several architects, the existence of a different kind of relationship with the past, which authorizes a new kind of reading of history. Benjamin wrote: “some people transmit things by making them intangible and conserving them; other people transmit situations by making them handy and liquidating them. Last are those that are called destructives. In this way, several modern works, austere in appearance, could they not result from a long transformation process punctuated by successive disappearances ? My hypothesis is that some architects, such as Le Corbusier, choose to insert themselves in that paradox, producing project techniques which do not come under dialectics between continuity and interruption, nor under reference work: I will call transposition the work that consists in graft on the genesis of an architectural device to accelerate it by the exhaustive actualization of his modes of existence. If Jeanneret detaches from the culture of his time onwards since the Orient Trip it is because he does not consider the architectural device as an inert entity which can be extrapolated. He recognizes in it a technical object capable of producing effects as a perception machine. His attitude consists therefore in visiting tradition, not to extract references, but as knowledge about the power that some objects have to produce effects. I will explore how he invents project techniques which are real ways of doing, consisting on intervening on, established, architectural types to produce concrete, technical objects

A pesquisa apresenta o conceito da coexistência mediada comunicacionalmente e tenta identificar os \"erros\" de percepção que podem ocorrer entre as diversas formas/ambientes de mediação comunicacionais, representadas pelos fluxos e refluxos: acústicos, visuais, elétricos e digitais. O conceito de coexistência mediada comunicacionalmente é inspirado na \"Investigação sobre os Modos de Existência\", de Bruno Latour, e opera uma tradução da tensão entre essencialismo e correlacionismo visando a um deslocamento da atenção que nos ajude a perceber etnograficamente as relações entre humanos e não humanos. Assim, na primeira etapa da pesquisa foi feita uma revisão da \"investigação\" de Latour, descrevendo seus passos até a missão diplomática e colaborativa de composição de um mundo comum, representada pela AIME. Em seguida, foram mapeados os principais usos do termo mediação, buscando identificar aqueles mais próximos da AIME, como foi o caso das explorações de Marshall McLuhan. Por fim, para identificar esses fluxos e refluxos ontológicos foi realizada uma experimentação etnográfica sobre o fenômeno dos rolezinhos, partindo a princípio dos rastros das controvérsias sobre o evento. O percurso que levou a pesquisa a formular o conceito de coexistência mediada também levou a propor uma estratégia de autoconhecimento, ou autoantropologia, como prefere Marilyn Strathern, que nos ajude a lidar com a multiplicação dos ambientes de nossas ecologias cognitivas. Tendo como base indícios de que a velocidade e a intensidade do trânsito entre as diversas mediações comunicacionais instauram desvios e confusões (semelhantes a \"erros\" de percepção, aqui nomeados como efeito Flammarion), a pesquisa então propõe/constata o seguinte: para aprender a conviver com os desafios de uma atenção distribuída digitalmente e no sentido da diplomacia que nos levará a compor um novo e múltiplo mundo, talvez seja necessário reaprendermos a nos livrar da atenção. / This research presents the concept of communicatively mediated coexistence, and it attempts to identify perceptions \"errors\" likely to occur among the several communicational mediation forms/environments represented by fluxes and refluxes: acoustic, visual, electric, and digital. The concept of communicatively mediated coexistence is inspired by Bruno Latour\'s \"An Inquiry Into Modes of Existence\" and it performs a translation of the tension between essentialism and correlationism, aiming at an attention shift that helps us to perceive, ethnographically, the relations between humans and non humans. Thus, the first stage of the research was a review of Latour\'s \"inquiry\", describing his steps up to the collaborative and diplomatic mission of composing a common world, represented by AIME. Next, the main uses of the term mediation were mapped in order to identify those closer to AIME, as in the case of Marshall McLuhan\'s explorations. Finally, in order to identify these ontological fluxes and refluxes, an ethnographic experiment about the phenomenon of rolezinhos (short strolls) was carried out, starting with the trail of controversies raised by the event. The path which led to the formulation of the concept of mediated coexistence, in this research, also led to proposing a strategy of self-awareness - or self-anthropology, as preferred by Marilyn Strathern - which may help us deal with the multiplication of the environments of our cognitive ecologies. Based on the evidence that the speed and intensity of the transit among several communicational mediations establish deviations and confusions (similar to perception \"errors\", here named as Flammarion effect), the research proposes/concludes the following: in order to learn to coexist with the challenges of a digitally distributed attention, and towards the diplomacy which will allow us to compose a new and multiple world, perhaps it is necessary to relearn to free ourselves from attention.

A pesquisa apresenta o conceito da coexistência mediada comunicacionalmente e tenta identificar os \"erros\" de percepção que podem ocorrer entre as diversas formas/ambientes de mediação comunicacionais, representadas pelos fluxos e refluxos: acústicos, visuais, elétricos e digitais. O conceito de coexistência mediada comunicacionalmente é inspirado na \"Investigação sobre os Modos de Existência\", de Bruno Latour, e opera uma tradução da tensão entre essencialismo e correlacionismo visando a um deslocamento da atenção que nos ajude a perceber etnograficamente as relações entre humanos e não humanos. Assim, na primeira etapa da pesquisa foi feita uma revisão da \"investigação\" de Latour, descrevendo seus passos até a missão diplomática e colaborativa de composição de um mundo comum, representada pela AIME. Em seguida, foram mapeados os principais usos do termo mediação, buscando identificar aqueles mais próximos da AIME, como foi o caso das explorações de Marshall McLuhan. Por fim, para identificar esses fluxos e refluxos ontológicos foi realizada uma experimentação etnográfica sobre o fenômeno dos rolezinhos, partindo a princípio dos rastros das controvérsias sobre o evento. O percurso que levou a pesquisa a formular o conceito de coexistência mediada também levou a propor uma estratégia de autoconhecimento, ou autoantropologia, como prefere Marilyn Strathern, que nos ajude a lidar com a multiplicação dos ambientes de nossas ecologias cognitivas. Tendo como base indícios de que a velocidade e a intensidade do trânsito entre as diversas mediações comunicacionais instauram desvios e confusões (semelhantes a \"erros\" de percepção, aqui nomeados como efeito Flammarion), a pesquisa então propõe/constata o seguinte: para aprender a conviver com os desafios de uma atenção distribuída digitalmente e no sentido da diplomacia que nos levará a compor um novo e múltiplo mundo, talvez seja necessário reaprendermos a nos livrar da atenção. / This research presents the concept of communicatively mediated coexistence, and it attempts to identify perceptions \"errors\" likely to occur among the several communicational mediation forms/environments represented by fluxes and refluxes: acoustic, visual, electric, and digital. The concept of communicatively mediated coexistence is inspired by Bruno Latour\'s \"An Inquiry Into Modes of Existence\" and it performs a translation of the tension between essentialism and correlationism, aiming at an attention shift that helps us to perceive, ethnographically, the relations between humans and non humans. Thus, the first stage of the research was a review of Latour\'s \"inquiry\", describing his steps up to the collaborative and diplomatic mission of composing a common world, represented by AIME. Next, the main uses of the term mediation were mapped in order to identify those closer to AIME, as in the case of Marshall McLuhan\'s explorations. Finally, in order to identify these ontological fluxes and refluxes, an ethnographic experiment about the phenomenon of rolezinhos (short strolls) was carried out, starting with the trail of controversies raised by the event. The path which led to the formulation of the concept of mediated coexistence, in this research, also led to proposing a strategy of self-awareness - or self-anthropology, as preferred by Marilyn Strathern - which may help us deal with the multiplication of the environments of our cognitive ecologies. Based on the evidence that the speed and intensity of the transit among several communicational mediations establish deviations and confusions (similar to perception \"errors\", here named as Flammarion effect), the research proposes/concludes the following: in order to learn to coexist with the challenges of a digitally distributed attention, and towards the diplomacy which will allow us to compose a new and multiple world, perhaps it is necessary to relearn to free ourselves from attention.

Cette thèse questionne les pratiques du management à distance dans les organisations contemporaines (franchise, sous-traitance, joint-venture, etc.). Elle s’inscrit dans les Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication et en particulier dans le champ de la communication organisationnelle. A partir d’une étude de terrain réalisée dans une station-service en franchise, elle s’attache à répondre à trois questions principales : (1) En quoi peut-on dire que la franchise est une forme de management à distance et quelles en sont les caractéristiques ? (2) De quelle nature sont les capacités d’action – ou agentivités textuelles - qui organisent les routines de travail dans la station service étudiée ? (3) Comment ces capacités d’action se manifestent-elles dans les routines conversationnelles et quels modes d’existence organisationnelle constituent-elles ? Elle apporte des éclairages sur la force de l’action – ou agentivité – à distance qu’exerce le management sur ce que disent et font les membres d’une organisation, à travers une reconceptualisation, de la distance et des routines, fondée sur une dynamique organisante des capacités d’action et sur les dimensions conversationnelles et textuelles de la communication. Ce qui renouvelle également notre conception du mode d’existence de l’entreprise et ouvre le débat sur les formes d’autorité que contribue à généraliser la franchise comme forme de management à distance. / Inscribed in Information and Communication Sciences and in particular in the field of the organizational communication, this research questions the practice of management at distance in contemporary organizations (franchise, subcontracting, joint-venture, etc.). From a field study realized in a Highway Gas Service’s station, it tries to answer three research questions: (1) To what extent can we say that the franchise is a form of management at distance and what are its characteristics? (2) What are the natures of the capacities of action – or textual agencies – that organize working routines in the studied gas station? (3) How do these capacities of action intervene during the conversational routines and what modes of organizational existence do they establish? This thesis sheds light on the strength of the action – or agency – at a distance exerted by management upon what say and do the members of an organization, through a conceptualization of distance and routines based on a the conversational and textual dynamic that organize those capacities of action. This thesis also renews our conception of the mode of existence of the firm and opens the debate on the forms of authority that contributes to widespread the franchise as a model of management at distance.