Technology, Time, and the Conversations of Modernity

Technology, Time and the Conversations of Modernity takes as its impetus the idea that technology is an embodiment of our uneasiness with finitude. Lorenzo Simpson shows how technology has succeeded in granting our wish to domesticate time. He addresses the consequences of this attitude for our self-understanding and for our ability to discover differences and discern meaning in our lives. By confronting issues raised in the various theoretical discourses concerning modernity with those engendered by a critical assessment of technology, Simpson elaborates a systematic critique of technological rationality. In the course of this, he provides a critique of philosophical nihilism, an account of the affinities between postmodern sensibilities and the technological attitude toward the world - illustrated by a discussion of Virtual Reality technology - as well as critical discussion of the work of Rorty, Habermas, MacIntyre and Sabina Lovibond.