Jens Zimmermann holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia (Comparative Literature) and also from the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany (Philosophy). He has published widely in continental philosophy and theology. He previously taught at UBC and Trinity Western University, where he held the Canada Research Chair from 2006 to 2016, and currently is J.I. Packer Chair in Theology at Regent College. He was Visiting Research Fellow at Cambridge (Trinity Hall, 2017-2018), and a British Academy Visiting Fellow at Oxford (Christ Church College, 2018-2019). He is currently Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Theology and Modern European Thought at Oxford and Research Fellow in Historical and Constructive Theology at the University of the Free State, South Africa.

• Introduction


• Part I: Confronting the Techno-Vision: Historical and Philosophical Analysis


• 1: Robert Doede: From Living Souls to Software Selves: The Movements of Enchantment Through Western Metaphysics


• 2: Ashley John Moyse: Oh, That We Might Learn to See Everything Differently: Interrogating a Baconian Spirit, Confessing (In)humanity


• 3: Jens Zimmermann: Personhood and Technology


• 4: Jordan Wales: The Icon and the Idol: A Christian Perspective on Sociable Robots


• 5: John Behr: Becoming Human in a Technological World


• 6: Brent Waters: Remaining Focused: Human Flourishing and the Mundane in the Emergent Technoculture


• Part II: Practical Implications of Technology for Human Flourishing


• 7: Celia Deane-Drummond: The Evolution of Wisdom in a Technological World: An Exploration in Nature and Grace


• 8: Thomas Fuchs: Transhumanism, Embodied Cognition, and Psychiatry


• 9: Clark Elliston: Leisure in a Technological World


• 10: David Lewin: Education, Enhancement, and the Pursuit of the Good


• 11: Eleanor McLaughlin: Human Flourishing, Disability, and Technology


• 12: Michael Mawson: Living in the Midst of Death: Theological and Philosophical Reflections on Ageing and Identity


• 13: Michael Burdett: Death and Glory in a Technological World


• Part III: Demystifying AI: Toward the Dignified Use of Modern Technology


• 14: Jaron Lanier: Personhood and Human Flourishing in a Technological World


• 15: Personhood, Consciousness, and Technology: A Dialogue with Jaron Lanier

Human Flourishing in a Technological World addresses fundamental questions about human identity and flourishing in the light of recent technological advances. It includes the text of a lecutre by virtual reality engineer and computer scientist Jaron Lanier, and a discussion between Lanier and other contributors.