Much has been written recently in mainstream media about sex robots. However, due to the recent developments in this area of robotic and AI technologies, few academics have critically addressed these humanoid sexual technologies through the frameworks provided by Feminist Technoscience Studies. Through utilizing this critical lens, this thesis works with the tools of becoming-with (Haraway 2004a) and intra-action (Barad 2003) to explore the ways in which sexual technologies manufactured by American company Abyss Creations are co-actors in complicated material-semiotic networks. In line with Haraway (2004a) and Barad (2003), this thesis argues that realities are made through ongoing material-discursive practices, practices which are intra-actions of desire, bacteria, companionship, synthetic cognitive algorithms, capitalism, app programing, Wikipedia, and robo-human becoming-with and becoming-without. It is through these webs of becoming-with and –without that these technologies exhibit relational agency. This thesis argues to view Abyss Creation’s sex robots in a framework of relational co-construction is to begin improving our understandings of the complicated ways in which humans, nonhumans, technology, systems, and forces are co-actors in techno-social networks.

A presente tese parte da premissa de que o contexto de transformações radicais nas Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TICs) desdobra-se em mudanças de toda ordem societal, proporcionando, especialmente, novos modos de subjetivação e cognição a partir da condição habitativa da rede. Tendo isso em vista, examina-se a dissociação entre a cultura tecnocientífica e a cultura das humanidades, ainda presente no modo de produção educacional contemporâneo, a partir das formulações elaboradas por C.P. Snow e Edgar Morin. Discutem-se também alguns parâmetros dos diagnósticos e analisam-se as divergências e pontos comuns nas proposições de ambos os autores. Em um segundo momento, a problemática das “duas culturas” é o pano de fundo de uma reflexão sobre a possibilidade de uma Filosofia da Tecnociência constituir-se em uma estratégia pedagógica relevante para o exercício escolar de religação de saberes, considerando a transversalidade, as hibridações, as tramas multidimensionais e os movimentos transfronteiriços que emergem com os fenômenos tecnocientíficos contemporâneos. Sendo assim, estrategicamente propõe-se a emergência de práticas pedagógicas de matriz filosófica no horizonte transdisciplinar das questões tecnocientíficas. Por fim, entende-se que o atual contexto das tecnologias da conectividade engendra um novo paradigma de inteligibilidade a partir das redes, colaborando para a emergência de um ethos de religação que repercute significativamente no problema das “duas culturas” e na cartografia do saber. / This thesis assumes that the context of radical changes in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) unfolds changes of all societal order, especially providing new forms of subjectivation and cognition from the inhabiting condition in the network. With this in mind, it examines the dissociation between technoscientific culture and the culture of the humanities still present in the contemporary educational production mode, from the formulations developed by C.P. Snow and Edgar Morin. Some parameters of diagnoses are also discussed and the differences and similarities in the propositions of both authors are analyzed. In a second moment, the issue of " the two cultures" is the background for a reflection on the possibility of constituting a Philosophy of Technoscience as a relevant pedagogical strategy for the school exercise of reconnecting knowledge, taking into account the transversality, the hybridizations, the multidimensional plots and transborder movements that emerge with contemporary technoscientific phenomena. Therefore, the emergence of pedagogical practices of philosophical roots in the transdisciplinary horizon of technoscientific issues is strategically proposed. Finally, it is understood that the current context of connectivity technologies engenders a new paradigm of intelligibility from the networks, contributing to the emergence of an ethos of reconnection that significantly affects the issue of two cultures and the cartography of knowledge.

A presente tese parte da premissa de que o contexto de transformações radicais nas Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TICs) desdobra-se em mudanças de toda ordem societal, proporcionando, especialmente, novos modos de subjetivação e cognição a partir da condição habitativa da rede. Tendo isso em vista, examina-se a dissociação entre a cultura tecnocientífica e a cultura das humanidades, ainda presente no modo de produção educacional contemporâneo, a partir das formulações elaboradas por C.P. Snow e Edgar Morin. Discutem-se também alguns parâmetros dos diagnósticos e analisam-se as divergências e pontos comuns nas proposições de ambos os autores. Em um segundo momento, a problemática das “duas culturas” é o pano de fundo de uma reflexão sobre a possibilidade de uma Filosofia da Tecnociência constituir-se em uma estratégia pedagógica relevante para o exercício escolar de religação de saberes, considerando a transversalidade, as hibridações, as tramas multidimensionais e os movimentos transfronteiriços que emergem com os fenômenos tecnocientíficos contemporâneos. Sendo assim, estrategicamente propõe-se a emergência de práticas pedagógicas de matriz filosófica no horizonte transdisciplinar das questões tecnocientíficas. Por fim, entende-se que o atual contexto das tecnologias da conectividade engendra um novo paradigma de inteligibilidade a partir das redes, colaborando para a emergência de um ethos de religação que repercute significativamente no problema das “duas culturas” e na cartografia do saber. / This thesis assumes that the context of radical changes in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) unfolds changes of all societal order, especially providing new forms of subjectivation and cognition from the inhabiting condition in the network. With this in mind, it examines the dissociation between technoscientific culture and the culture of the humanities still present in the contemporary educational production mode, from the formulations developed by C.P. Snow and Edgar Morin. Some parameters of diagnoses are also discussed and the differences and similarities in the propositions of both authors are analyzed. In a second moment, the issue of " the two cultures" is the background for a reflection on the possibility of constituting a Philosophy of Technoscience as a relevant pedagogical strategy for the school exercise of reconnecting knowledge, taking into account the transversality, the hybridizations, the multidimensional plots and transborder movements that emerge with contemporary technoscientific phenomena. Therefore, the emergence of pedagogical practices of philosophical roots in the transdisciplinary horizon of technoscientific issues is strategically proposed. Finally, it is understood that the current context of connectivity technologies engenders a new paradigm of intelligibility from the networks, contributing to the emergence of an ethos of reconnection that significantly affects the issue of two cultures and the cartography of knowledge.

A presente tese parte da premissa de que o contexto de transformações radicais nas Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TICs) desdobra-se em mudanças de toda ordem societal, proporcionando, especialmente, novos modos de subjetivação e cognição a partir da condição habitativa da rede. Tendo isso em vista, examina-se a dissociação entre a cultura tecnocientífica e a cultura das humanidades, ainda presente no modo de produção educacional contemporâneo, a partir das formulações elaboradas por C.P. Snow e Edgar Morin. Discutem-se também alguns parâmetros dos diagnósticos e analisam-se as divergências e pontos comuns nas proposições de ambos os autores. Em um segundo momento, a problemática das “duas culturas” é o pano de fundo de uma reflexão sobre a possibilidade de uma Filosofia da Tecnociência constituir-se em uma estratégia pedagógica relevante para o exercício escolar de religação de saberes, considerando a transversalidade, as hibridações, as tramas multidimensionais e os movimentos transfronteiriços que emergem com os fenômenos tecnocientíficos contemporâneos. Sendo assim, estrategicamente propõe-se a emergência de práticas pedagógicas de matriz filosófica no horizonte transdisciplinar das questões tecnocientíficas. Por fim, entende-se que o atual contexto das tecnologias da conectividade engendra um novo paradigma de inteligibilidade a partir das redes, colaborando para a emergência de um ethos de religação que repercute significativamente no problema das “duas culturas” e na cartografia do saber. / This thesis assumes that the context of radical changes in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) unfolds changes of all societal order, especially providing new forms of subjectivation and cognition from the inhabiting condition in the network. With this in mind, it examines the dissociation between technoscientific culture and the culture of the humanities still present in the contemporary educational production mode, from the formulations developed by C.P. Snow and Edgar Morin. Some parameters of diagnoses are also discussed and the differences and similarities in the propositions of both authors are analyzed. In a second moment, the issue of " the two cultures" is the background for a reflection on the possibility of constituting a Philosophy of Technoscience as a relevant pedagogical strategy for the school exercise of reconnecting knowledge, taking into account the transversality, the hybridizations, the multidimensional plots and transborder movements that emerge with contemporary technoscientific phenomena. Therefore, the emergence of pedagogical practices of philosophical roots in the transdisciplinary horizon of technoscientific issues is strategically proposed. Finally, it is understood that the current context of connectivity technologies engenders a new paradigm of intelligibility from the networks, contributing to the emergence of an ethos of reconnection that significantly affects the issue of two cultures and the cartography of knowledge.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The techno-scientific development, through their networks of production and distribution of knowledge has gradually changed the culture through hybrid technologies, allowing interactions between humans and non-humans to be increasingly deeper. Experience is a process in which the instruments are not only technical devices to perform actions; they are able to interact, partly copying human elements, as well as adding other superhuman elements. This interaction has provided a continuous technological development, promoting a series of technical and social changes. New phenomena, from the current context of prominence of Technoscience, are altering the process of organization and perception of society. Such phenomenon is part of an integrated and complex network of elements, where linear and fragmentary views, typical of modern thought, cannot grasp the phenomena in their amplitude. Thus, this study aims to discuss the theoretical and methodological challenges for the social sciences to emerge within the context of interaction between technologies/humans, which place hybridism as a central category of analysis. The methodology consists of a theoretical discussion, involving comparative analysis of the central categories of thought of Bruno Latour and Donna Haraway. / O desenvolvimento tecnocientifico, através de suas redes de produção e distribuição de conhecimentos, tem alterado paulatinamente a cultura através de tecnologias híbridas que possibilitam interações entre humanos e não-humanos de forma cada vez mais profunda. Vivencia-se um processo no qual os instrumentos não são apenas artifícios para realizar ações técnicas, mas apresentam a capacidade de interação, copiando, em parte, elementos humanos, e adicionando outros elementos sobre-humanos. Esta interação tem proporcionado um contínuo desenvolvimento tecnológico, promovendo uma série de mudanças técnicas e sociais. Novos fenômenos, oriundos do atual contexto de proeminência da tecnociência, estão alterando o processo de organização e percepção da sociedade. Estes fenômenos estão inserido em uma rede complexa e integrada de elementos, em que visões lineares e fragmentárias, típicas do pensamento moderno, não conseguem apreender os fenômenos em sua amplitude. Neste sentido, este estudo tem por finalidade discutir os desafios teórico-metodológicos para as Ciências Sociais que emergem do contexto de interação entre tecnologias/homem que posicionam o hibridismo como uma categoria central de análise. A metodologia utilizada consiste em discussão teórica, envolvendo análise comparativa das categorias centrais do pensamento de Bruno Latour e Donna Haraway.

Der amerikanische Philosoph Don Ihde entwickelte in den letzten zwanzig Jahren im Anschluss an die Technikphilosophie Martin Heideggers ein Konzept von Technoscience, das die technische Dimension der Naturkunde und der Naturwissenschaft sowie ihre kulturelle Einbettung hervorhebt. Insbesondere Heidegger und Ihde beschränken Technoscience- Ansätze auf neuzeitliche experimentelle Naturwissenschaft. Technoscience sollte jedoch auch wesentliche Bereiche der Medizin umfassen, allerdings mit deutlich technischer Zielsetzung. Drei Paradigmen haben sich für die Diskussion in der Bioethik herausgeschält: (1) eine Ethik des konservativen Lebensschutzes; (2) eine Ethik des pragmatischen Heilens und Verbesserns einschließlich innovativer Verwendung moderner Biotechnologie im Rahmen einer Handlungsorientierung am menschlichen Leib; (3) die Position der liberalen Eugeniker. / Over the past 20 years, American philosopher Don Ihde has developed a concept of technoscience, based on Heidegger's philosophy of technology, to emphasise the technological dimension of natural history, natural science and their cultural context. Both Heidegger and Ihde limit the technoscience approach to modern experimental natural science. However, technoscience should also embrace essential areas of medicine, albeit with decidedly technical objectives. Three paradigms have evolved for the discussion in bioethics: (1) the ethics of conservative protection of life; (2) the ethics of pragmatic healing and betterment, including innovative applications of modern biotechnology within a framework of action centred on the human body; (3) the position and theses of liberal eugenics.

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Drawing from gender studies, cultural studies, and feminist technoscience literature, this dissertation employs an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the androcentric imaginaries through which humanoid sex robots ("sexbots") emerge. Specifically, I utilize sexbots to interrogate and reflect on issues such as consent, whiteness, and humanity. By situating sexbots as proxies for feminized and racialized humans, I argue that the production, portrayal, and proliferation of sexbots are reflections of how we treat marginalized people, reifying existing hierarchal power relations. This project begins by analyzing the creation and dissemination of sexbots by popular sex technology ("sextech") companies. Critically surveying published papers, interviews, and research from various sexbot texts, I attend to gendered and racialized discourses of sexbot consent and companionship in human-sexbot relationships. Next, I analyze the overwhelming presence of whiteness with/in sexbots, exploring how anti-Black racism manifests in sexbots, and underscoring how both the present and "future" of sextech remains rooted in the past. Then, I catalog and dissect the published materials and interviews of prominent sextech creators, critically juxtaposing the marketing discourses of sexbots and evincing how both the sextech elite and science journalists—specifically writers I refer to as "sexbot journalists"—influence, change, and inform the meanings of sexbots. Finally, I turn to robots and robot alternatives found in feminist speculative fiction, utilizing these stories as a way of looking elsewhere in order to theorize what is possible for sexbots as well as our (current and future) relationships to these emerging technologies. At its core, this dissertation is an invitation to question white heteropatriarchy mediated through the controversial existence of sexbots. While synthetic women are the ostensible "subjects" of investigation—as well as commodities exchanged by creators and subsequently praised by enthusiasts—it is the "real" feminized and racialized humans who lie at the heart of this project. Through a much-needed feminist intervention, this project offers an in-depth analysis of humanoid sex robots and what they reveal about violence and power in the world around us. / Doctor of Philosophy / Humanoid sex robots ("sexbots") have served as inspiration for countless inventors, scholars, and writers of science fact and fiction. Sexbots, as I intend to show, are also shaped by gendered and racialized imaginaries, leading to their condemnation by feminist and race-critical science and technology scholars. At the same time, sexbots are popularly advertised as suitable alternatives for human companionship, promoted as emerging technologies designed for users uninterested in, or unable to, have sexual relations with "real" or "organic" women. Interrogating the troubling imaginaries behind these synthetic women, I analyze the creation, production, and dissemination of sexbots by popular sex technology ("sextech") companies. Specifically, I use sexbots to explore urgent issues such as humanity, consent, and whiteness. Unable to consent to the acts they are programmed to perform, or combat the abuse directed toward them, sexbots are often associated with sexual and gender-based violence. By situating sexbots as proxies for feminized and racialized humans, this project argues that the production, portrayal, and proliferation of sexbots are reflections of how we treat marginalized people, reinforcing existing problems related to patriarchy, misogyny, and anti-Black racism. While this project is deeply interested in sexbots, its heart is intimately human. Ultimately, I use sexbots to critically reflect on issues of power and violence in our world, as well as to (re)imagine feminist relationships to these emerging technologies.

Using social media and norm-breaking material as an empirical touchstone this thesis elaborates, investigates and explores the entangled relationships between humans and technology in social media settings. Guided by uncomfortable, emotional and bodily online sharing the thesis gives voice to stories that are seldom heard, by people whose lives are rarely spoken of. By exploring the performative entanglements of/with/through technology, design and human intent the overall aim is to offer a critical and new understanding of our online togetherness and posthuman becoming. The conceptual framework throughout the thesis is based on posthuman theory and feminist technoscience, two closely connected theories providing a new onto-epistemological way of understanding the world’s becoming. The thesis should be seen as the product of an empirical practice of making theory about digital things, culture, humans and non-humans. By exploring diffraction and touch as not only theoretical standpoints but also hands-on methodology the thesis contributes to the development of new ways of doing research. Important findings arising from the practice of diffraction and touch are Technoemotions – conceptually agents built on a posthuman understanding of how emotions are entangled between and within the phenomenon, becoming important agents in the apparatus creating the phenomenon. Four Technoemotions seem particularly prominent in the material: Trust, Truth, Time and Embodiment. The thesis concludes by providing a discussion on critical alternatives for ethics, politics and power in relation to social media and the norms and norm-breaking practices most of us participate in. The responsibility and ability to respond are addressed, as well as social justice and hope for the future to come. / Sociala medier har för många människor blivit en naturlig del av vardagen där den digitala gemenskapen är lika viktig som den analoga. På platser så som Facebook, Twitter, bloggar och Instagram kommunicerar vi genom att dela med oss av tankar, händelse och åsikter i vår vardag. Vi varvar bilder från vår semester med politiska artiklar, delar vidare kloka citat eller resultatet från ett test av något slag, skryter på våra barn, filmar våra husdjur, delar med oss av sjukdomstillstånd och barnafödande och allt annat som en vardag kan vara fylld av. Just själva delandet är ett viktigt fundament i sociala mediers blivande och dess design är ofta optimerad för att kunna dela samma inlägg till flera olika sociala plattformar med ett enkelt klick. Denna avhandling handlar om hur vi genom sociala medier blir tillsammans på nätet, hur vi formar varandra men även hur vi formas av de tekniska scripts och den design som sociala medier är uppbyggt av. I avhandlingen får läsaren ta del av ett stort normbrytande empiriskt material. Med avstamp i detta normbrytande undersöker sedan författaren hur feministisk teknovetenskap och posthumanistisk teori kan användas som konkret metod för analys. Genom att applicera både närhet och diffraktion till det normbrytande empiriska materialet finner författaren det hon valt att kalla Teknoemotioner – konceptuella agenter som har sitt ursprung i sammanflätningar av digitala, sociala, mänskliga och icke-mänskliga material och kompositioner. Fyra teknoemotioner är särskilt framträdande, dessa är: förtroende, sanning, tid och förkroppsligande men författaren nämner också friktion och frusna berättelser som viktiga för att förstå fenomenet normbrytande delningar i sociala medier. Förtroende, sanning, tid och förkroppsligande är teknoemotioner som befinner sig i mellanrummet mellan skilda delningspraktiker i sociala medier. Dessas teknoemotioner skapar förutsättningar och påverkar upplevelser, ger indikationer om möjliga skillnader och likheter som är av betydelse för hur vi blir tillsammans med digitala material genom sociala medier. Författaren ger exempel på att det visserligen ofta är först i sin frånvaro som teknoemotioner blir uppenbara och får agens. Därmed konstaterar författaren att teknoemotioner också ofta är sin motsats. Analysen visar vidare att användare ofta uppfattar teknoemotionerna som valbara, exempelvis sanning. I sociala medier är sanning ofta en komplex agent, som ifrågasätts eller behandlat som något var och en får/kan avgöra på egen hand. Förtroende likaså. Med teknoemotionen, förkroppsligande, framgår också en tvetydighet, där kroppen (den fysiska) saknas i det virtuella rummet även om digitala kroppar är högst närvarande. Kan det vara så att känslan av anonymitet växer sig starkare om jag kan välja att vara i eller utanför min kropp?  Slutligen, tid. Tid är inte detsamma på internet som vi är vana. Där är tid ett högt arbiträrt begrepp och vi befinner oss i vår historia, samtid och till viss del även får framtid simultant. Avhandlingen avslutas med en metareflektion över hur det är möjligt att skapa kunskap om komplexa posthumanistiska fenomen där mänsklig handlingsförmåga vävs samman med digitala material och dess skilda rationaliteter. Genom att efterfråga alternativa ideal för kunskapsutveckling och design där etik, politik och makt är viktiga inslag hoppas författaren på en kritisk och alternativ förståelse av den verklighetsproduktion som sociala medier (och andra posthumana fenomen) bidrar till.

La plupart des philosophes s’entendent aujourd’hui pour affirmer qu’il y a une crise de sens en Occident. J.-F. Mattéi l’a démontré sans équivoque dans son ouvrage intitulé La crise de sens (2006). Selon lui, la crise se traduirait par cinq aspects: crise spirituelle, crise religieuse, crise de l’art, crise économique et finalement, crise de la culture. À notre avis, cela est exact, mais incomplet, car Mattéi néglige d’évoquer la crise la plus importante : la crise écologique. L’argument qui nous amène à en postuler la plus haute importance est simple : s’il n’y a plus d’environnement favorable au maintien de la vie humaine, c’est la fin de l’humanité. L’aspect environnemental de la crise ne peut donc pas être occulté de la réflexion concernant son ensemble, car pour nous, elle est l’occasion d’un questionnement philosophique appelé à répondre à cette crise. Dans un livre intitulé Écologie, éthique et création (1994), Dominique Jacquemin nous oriente en ce sens en y posant les trois questions suivantes : 1. Est-il possible de qualifier éthiquement ce à quoi nous convie aujourd’hui la préoccupation écologique? 2. Quel rapport au monde et à l’avenir la préoccupation écologique est-elle à même d’instaurer? 3. Quelles sont les possibilités pour que la démarche écologique devienne un lieu éthique à même d’instaurer un rapport homme-nature dans le présent et l’avenir? Ainsi, le questionnement que soulève la crise écologique amène à réfléchir sur le sens et la finalité de la vie humaine et sur la conception même de l’être humain dans son rapport au monde. Le propos de ce mémoire est de répondre à ces dernières questions en nous inspirant des principes éthiques mis en avant dans Le Principe Responsabilité (1990) de Hans Jonas, et cela, dans le but d’en faire ressortir sa pertinence face au défi environnemental actuel. En d’autres termes, nous tâcherons de répondre à la question suivante : Pour la société actuelle et son prolongement, quels sont les aspects les plus pertinents de la thèse de Hans Jonas (1903 – 1993) dans son Principe Responsabilité (1990) concernant la résolution de la crise de sens? À cette fin, le mémoire comporte deux chapitres dont le premier, qui forme le cœur du mémoire, comporte trois parties principales liées aux trois questions posées précédemment. Le deuxième et dernier chapitre comporte premièrement une analyse critique du Principe responsabilité et par la suite son appréciation critique. Méthodologiquement, nous entendons éclairer la nécessité de la responsabilité éthique face à la crise écologique en mettant l’accent sur les thèmes de l’altérité et de la solidarité. C’est de cette manière que nous espérons montrer que la crise écologique actuelle ouvre des avenues possibles à la résolution, au moins partielle, de la crise de sens à laquelle nous sommes actuellement confrontés. / Most philosophers agree today that there is a crisis of meaning in the Western world. J.-F. Mattei, for example, in La crise de sens (2006), unequivocally demonstrates this. According to him, this crisis has five dimensions: spiritual, religious, artistic, economic, and finally, cultural. This is true in my view, although incomplete, because Mattéi does not address the most important crisis: the ecological crisis. The argument that leads me to postulate the utmost importance of this ecological crisis is simple: if the environment is no longer able to sustain human life, humans cease to exist. The environmental aspect of the crisis can thus not be subtracted from a reflection on the overall crisis since, in my view, it offers an opportunity for a philosophical questioning to address this crisis. In the book entitled Écologie, éthique et création (1994), Dominique Jacquemin orients us in this direction by raising the following three questions : 1. Is it possible to frame our ecological concerns in ethical terms? 2. How can ecological concerns affect our relationship with the world and with the future? 3. How can the present ecological reflection establish an ethically viable link between man and nature, both now and in the future? The questions raised by the environmental crisis thus lead us to think about the meaning and the finality of human life and also about the concept of human beings in their relationship to the world. The purpose of this memoir is to address these questions by finding inspiration in the ethical principles outlined in The Imperative of Responsibility (1979, English 1984) by Hans Jonas (1903 – 1993), in order to bring out their relevance for the current environmental challenge. In other words, I will answer the following question: In today's society and for the future, what are the most important aspects in Hans Jonas' book on “The Imperative of Responsibility” with regards to the resolution of the crisis of meaning? To accomplish this, the memoir is divided in two chapters. The first is the body of the memoir which contains three main parts related to the three questions raised above. The second and final chapter contains an initial critical analysis of The Imperative of Responsibility followed by an appreciation by Hans Jonas. Methodologically, I intend to shed light on the need for ethical responsibility in face of the ecological crisis by focusing on the themes of otherness and solidarity. In this way, I hope to show that the ecological crisis opens up possible avenues for the resolution, at least in part, of the crisis in meaning we are now facing.