1: Introduction

Abstract

Technologies have all kinds of impacts, on the environment, on human behavior, on our society and on what we believe and value. But some technologies are not just impactful, they are also socially disruptive: they challenge existing institutions, social practices, beliefs and conceptual categories. Here we are particularly interested in technologies that disrupt existing concepts, for example because they lead to profound uncertainty about how to classify matters. Is a humanoid robot - which looks and even acts like a human - to be classified as a person, or is it just an inert machine? Conceptual disruption occurs when the meaning of concepts is challenged, and it may potentially lead to a revision of concepts. We illustrate how technologies can be conceptually disruptive through a range of examples, and we argue for an intercultural outlook in studying socially disruptive technologies and conceptual disruption. Such an outlook is needed to avoid a Western bias in calling technologies socially or conceptually disruptive, and it takes inspiration from a broad range of philosophical traditions.

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