Theory and Philosophy of Physicality
Alan John Dix, Steve Gill, Joanna Hare, Devina Ramduny-Ellis · 2022
Abstract Throughout this book many philosophical and theoretical threads have been encountered: from discussions of Heidegger and hammers to the nature of space and time, and the changing role of money. The book has shown how fundamental physics involves information, and how computation is intensely physical with attendant environmental implications. This chapter draws together a few points made throughout the book and summarizes them. The chapter begins with the way digital technology acts as a mirror to the nature of the material world, and by its similarities and differences reveals fresh insights about physicality. It then moves on to consider what it means to be human, embodied in a physical and now a digital environment. Finally it looks forward to the potential design future and the way all of society is being changed, and could be transformed, by a rich understanding of the interplay between our physical and digital existence.