{"title":"Emerging Technologies for Preventing the 'New' Dementia: Ambiguous Optimism in the Canadian Context.","authors":"Annette Leibing, Cynthia Lazzaroni, Niklas Petersen","doi":"10.1080/01459740.2023.2244649","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Experts' views on the use of mostly digital technologies for dementia prevention are characterized by a simultaneity of \"gerontechnological optimism\" and skeptical hesitancy. Despite the hope for progress in dementia prevention through preventive technologies, experts also point to the complexity of prevention, the importance of environmental factors and public health policies, and the danger of an excessive focus on individual interventions. Without questioning the positive impact such technologies can have on many people, we claim that the experts' ambiguity reveals a deeper concern, a kind of \"cruel optimism\" that is based on a fantasy of \"supported autonomy\".</p>","PeriodicalId":47460,"journal":{"name":"Medical Anthropology","volume":" ","pages":"607-622"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Medical Anthropology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2023.2244649","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/8/8 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Experts' views on the use of mostly digital technologies for dementia prevention are characterized by a simultaneity of "gerontechnological optimism" and skeptical hesitancy. Despite the hope for progress in dementia prevention through preventive technologies, experts also point to the complexity of prevention, the importance of environmental factors and public health policies, and the danger of an excessive focus on individual interventions. Without questioning the positive impact such technologies can have on many people, we claim that the experts' ambiguity reveals a deeper concern, a kind of "cruel optimism" that is based on a fantasy of "supported autonomy".
期刊介绍:
Medical Anthropology provides a global forum for scholarly articles on the social patterns of ill-health and disease transmission, and experiences of and knowledge about health, illness and wellbeing. These include the nature, organization and movement of peoples, technologies and treatments, and how inequalities pattern access to these. Articles published in the journal showcase the theoretical sophistication, methodological soundness and ethnographic richness of contemporary medical anthropology. Through the publication of empirical articles and editorials, we encourage our authors and readers to engage critically with the key debates of our time. Medical Anthropology invites manuscripts on a wide range of topics, reflecting the diversity and the expanding interests and concerns of researchers in the field.