Technologized Life, Living Technology: The Blurring of Boundaries

Humans and other living beings are not technical devices—and technical devices do not live. This clear distinction between life and technology has shaped human civilization and intellectual history, as well as ethics and law, right up to the present day. As a result, bioethics and technology ethics have, for the most part, developed independently of one another. However, scientific and technological progress is increasingly blurring the boundary between technology and life. Genetic engineering, biotechnology, and synthetic biology technically replicate biological processes and alter living organisms. In turn, digitalization and artificial intelligence enable technical objects that appear to be alive. Even the technical creation of artificial life forms seems possible. Professor Armin Grunwald addresses the ethical, anthropological, and philosophical questions raised by the gradual dissolution of the boundary between life and technology.

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