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Drawing on cases from the world of 'free software', this book examines Rousseau's conception of freedom and its significance in the modern world of science and technology, where so much of our experience and activity is enwrapped by algorithms, from our property to our food, bodies, brains and, by extension, our liberty.
List of contents
Introduction
Rousseau’s tragic conception of freedom
Freedom and method
Outline
Chapter 1. The Future of Freedom
The freedom-machine
Bits, genes, and (freedom-)machines
Linux as iconic for altruism
Selfishness
Chapter 2. Science and Society
Critique of progress
Hobbes and social constructivism
Rousseau, social constructivism and its extension to the social contract
Knowing nature
Rousseau as an immodest witness on education
Nature, science and colonialism
Conclusion
Chapter 3. Social Contracting and Freedom
Introduction
The method and the contract
Social contracting, in between Rousseau and STS
Let’s not be modern / or the legacy of the general will
Equality and governing
Pacts and properties
Method and truth
Our own attempt at Enlightenment
Freedom machines and beyond
Freedom and security
Freedom and the natural world
Conclusion
About the author
Eric Deibel is a Lecturer of Science, Technology and Society at the engineering faculty of Bilkent University, Turkey, and is Assistant Professor at the political science faculty. He is a co-author of Recoding Life: Information and the Biopolitical.
Summary
Drawing on cases from the world of ‘free software’, this book examines Rousseau’s conception of freedom and its significance in the modern world of science and technology, where so much of our experience and activity is enwrapped by algorithms, from our property to our food, bodies, brains and, by extension, our liberty.
