In 1997 i won the Swiss Futurist Competition “be brilliant” sponsored by Honeywell USA, and was then subsequently allowed to enter the European Finals, where i became one of the 4 winners of this event. The task was simply to imagine a possible future and what it means for us. There was a subsequent feature on the competition on CNN Global, as part of their regular “Future Watch” series.

Futurist Competition Europe 1997

  (CNN, Future Watch)

 

The Virtual Triad

Society and Man under the Sign of Virtuality

The essay under consideration deals with technological developments within the next 25 years and their impact on society. A theoretical model of analysis is outlined, which is constituted by the three interdependent processes of virtualization, cyborgization and bionization. In the course of these processes the ambivalent relationship between man and machine will change significantly, and the daily lifeworld will increasingly be dominated by the new technologies. The essay concludes with the recommendation that these specific developments should be put at the heart of academic research and social discourse. Only if possible social impacts are analysed and discussed in an early phase, will society as a whole be able to benefit from the new technologies.

Daniel Diemers, St. Gallen/ Switzerland, 1997

 

Link to full essay:     PDF