Textbook in PDF format

How does automation affect us, our environment, and our imaginations? What actions should we take in response to automation? Beyond grand narratives and technology-driven visions of the future, what more can automation offer?
With these questions in mind, The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures provides a framework for thinking about and implementing automation differently. It consolidates automated futures as an inter- and transdisciplinary research field, embedding the imaginaries, interactions, and impacts of automation technology within their social, historical, societal, cultural, and political contexts. Promoting a critical yet constructive and engaging agenda, the handbook invites readers to collaborate with rather than resist automation agendas. It does so by pushing the agenda for social science, humanities and design beyond merely assessing and evaluating existing technologies. Instead, the handbook demonstrates how the humanities and social sciences are essential to the design and governance of sustainable sociotechnical systems. Methodologically, the handbook is underpinned by a pedagogical approach to staging co-learning and co-creation of automated futures with, rather than simply for, people. In this way, the handbook encourages readers to explore new and alternative modes of research, fostering a deeper engagement with the evolving landscape of automation.
- integrates perspectives at both philosophical and practical levels
- a guide to imaginaries and interactions with automation technology that cuts across different fields
- demonstrates how co-learning and co-creation can be staged and analysed
Digital Transformation discourse often relies on the implementation of technologies such as cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to simplify operations, enhance customer experiences, and foster innovation. In addition to such an imagined transformation, automated futures point to a world where machines and automated systems accomplish tasks and processes instead of humans. This involves automating routine tasks, decision-making processes, and creative activities through robotics, AI, and other technological means. However, as the chapters in this volume show, such futures do not remove human practices from the equation but instead complicate the relationship between humans and machines. Automation is always more than what the established narratives invite us to believe. Therefore, it is essential to observe how automation embodies a forward-looking gaze and constant transformation that highlights its link to human capabilities, responsibilities, or the relief it may offer them