Technological Evolution and the Political Agency of Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of General Organology and Universal Organicism

Abstract

The question of political agency with respect to artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly relevant insofar as we can observe efforts to regulate it. Some policy proposals link the problem of the advance of AI to the concept of technological evolution. However, it is still not quite clear what they mean by this concept. This paper explores conceptualisations of technological agency and evolution in Bernard Stiegler’s general organology and Friedrich Schelling’s universal organicism. I argue that organicism proposes a more ‘naturalised’ approach to agency formation and a more ‘organic’ explanation of technology than general organology. General organology considers technological evolution from a human perspective, whereas universal organicism can accommodate a theory of technological evolution independently from its social dimensions. While technology already has a strong impact on the organisation of our societies, recognition of technological agency as at least partially independent serves to recognise them as non-human beings that impact politics.