How to outsmart our smartest technologies

Published in Neos Kosmos, a Melbourne Newspaper, by Edward Spence on 29 September, 2011. Article examines the current trend with 'smart'technologies and how to stay one step ahead using philosophy. To the extent that technologies contribute the means to the end of having a good life, wisdom as the means of both finding out what a good life and achieving its realisation, is a Meta- Technology of the Self, the technology par excellence. It enables us to master all the technologies we need for achieving good and happy lives. As an academic philosopher Spence sees his wider role in society as that of a public commentator on matters of public significance. Using his philosophical knowledge and expertise Spence creates short media articles of about 800 -1000 words to analyse and evaluate complex social issues philosophically. He draws on both ancient and contemporary philosophy in order to situate those social issues in the wider historical context of western civilisation. It is important to do so in order to raise awareness of the continuity of thought that shapes and grounds our understanding of these contemporary social issues. The media articles that Spence publishes in newspapers and magazines are part of his public philosophy research output. It also includes the writing and performance of original philosophy plays in public venues as part of his Theatre of Philosophy project. Unlike academic journal papers the media articles are written in a rhetorical style designed for a public audience but without comprising the philosophical rationale.