A sharp eye on new technologies – Cross

The title of his thesis looks like a title of science fiction novel for academics: Humans, machines, cyborgs, the informational paradigm in imaginary technician . In other words ? “What is the representation are the engineers of the technology? The machines that create roboticists are the mirror image they have of the human “, said Daniela Cerqui, at table in the kitchen of his apartment Lausanne. Warm and hospitable, she expounds on anthropology techniques while preparing a vitello tonnato .

“My interest in anthropology is probably linked to the migratory journey of my family. “ His parents, Lombards, come to settle in the canton of Vaud in the late 1950s when she was born in 1967. ” The arrival of Italians in Switzerland at that time, it was culture shock! “ During his schooling, she is a victim of ambient xenophobia.

Cahiers

After failing in medicine, Daniela Cerqui is redirects sociology-anthropology. “Wear a look at the company corresponded to what I wanted to take in my life. “ She landed a position as a PhD student at the University of Lausanne under the direction of Gerald Berthoud.

Anthropologist techniques, he worked on” externalization “techniques in humans . A theory developed by his mentor, paleontologist André Leroi-Gourhan, a professor at the College of France, for whom this is the tool that distinguishes man from the animal, the humanization process through technology.

“ I’m no computer, but the study of the technology fascinated me. From my thesis, in 2005, I saw take place slippage between therapeutic medicine and improvement of the human body, which were unaware scientists I met. “

Transhumanism

How then explain that she continued to work in Redding, England, with the researcher least in tune with his ideas? The British cybernetician Kevin Warwick has implanted a microchip in 1998 in the arm able to move a robotic hand mimics the movements of his to the other side of the world via the Internet.

“Kevin Warwick is the tip of the iceberg. He just fifteen years ahead of the rest of society, already transhumanist without admitting it. Moreover, the scientific community considers him a crackpot. “ Yet, in 2012, a British government report listait among the drivers of economic growth both experiments Warwick!

The price of lucidity

Since this work, Daniela Cerqui teaches anthropology techniques at the University of Lausanne, made numerous trips abroad for conferences and acts as an expert in the reflection group on new technologies.

She has not published his thesis. “I prefer to write in a mainstream magazine in a magazine read by thirty sociologists” , said Daniela Cerqui which does not always have the recognition that it would like its peers. The price of lucidity?

Stéphane Dreyfus