Sapient Circuits and Digitalized Flesh: The Organization as Locus of Technological Posthumanization

by Matthew E. Gladden

This book develops new insights into the evolving nature of organizations by applying the methodologies of posthumanist thought to the fields of organizational theory and management. An emerging 'organizational posthumanism' is described that makes sense of the ways in which forces of technological posthumanization are reshaping the members, personnel structures, information systems, processes, physical and virtual spaces, and external environments available for use by organizations. Conceptual frameworks and analytic tools are formulated that diagnose the convergence in the capacities of human and artificial actors generated by new technologies relating to human augmentation, synthetic agency, and digital-physical ecosystems. As the first systematic study of these topics, this text will interest scholars and students of organizational management and management practitioners who grapple on a daily basis with the forces of technologization that are increasingly powerful drivers of organizational change.

238 pages, Hardcover

Published July 9, 2016

About the author

My research investigates the impacts of technological posthumanization on the way in which we structure organizations, social interaction, and the architecture of the spaces in which we live. Such realms include not only the physical spaces of buildings and the workplace but also cognitive, information, and experiential spaces — both ‘real’ and virtual.

Much of my work has explored the organizational and managerial implications of emerging technologies relating to social robotics, artificial general intelligence, artificial life, swarm and nanorobotics, ubiquitous computing, neural implants and neuroprosthetics, and augmented and virtual reality. I am particularly interested in the architectures of cyberspace and virtual worlds.

I generally employ qualitative approaches that attempt to synthesize methodologies from the spheres of contemporary critical and philosophical posthumanism, systems theory and cybernetics, and classical phenomenology. I both analyze ongoing developments and attempt to anticipate future dynamics of technological posthumanization.

My work has been published by The MIT Press, IOS Press, Routledge, and Ashgate and has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including The International Journal of Contemporary Management, Annales: Ethics in Economic Life, Informatyka Ekonomiczna, Frontiers in Neuroscience, and Creatio Fantastica. I've presented my research at more than a dozen international academic conferences in countries including the US, Poland, Denmark, and Croatia. My work has been cited in academic journals, books, doctoral dissertations, conference presentations, blogs, and other media.