The Posthuman Condition: A Complicated Conversation

Martin Heidegger cited this epigraph from the 18th century German romantic poet, Heinrich Hölderlin in his famous essay “The Question Concerning Technology” to describe the Janus face of technology, which could be poetically creative or destructively dehumanizing; it all depended on what humans let technology do. Like humans, animals, and other things, technology had an essence, and that essence was not technological. The struggle and destiny of technology was to unconceal this essence. The process of unconcealing its essence was a process of bringing forth. This bringing forth of technology’s essence was captured in the Greek understanding of technology as technē or poesis. Technē was simultaneously technique or instrumentalism and skill or art. When humans permitted technology’s poesis to burst forth, the useful and creative force of technology shone and acted as a device to enhance humanity’s own unconcealment. This unconcealment of the poiesis of technology helped unleash the creative passions and desires of humanity in every aspect of human existence. With the help of techne the peasant became a nurturer of the land, the bridge became a peaceful causeway across a river, and the artist emerged as a truth teller.