Learning Objectives​

By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Define ontological functionalism and contrast it with anthropocentric, soul-based, or humanist worldviews.
2. Trace the historical transition from navigational necessity to technical necessity across three epochs: agrarian, industrial, and digital.
3. Analyze the concept of the Technosphere as a self-sustaining, evolving system that transcends biological life.
4. Evaluate the ethical and pedagogical implications of a world where human survival is no longer the primary goal of civilization.
5. Interpret the Latin maxim “vivere non est necesse” (“to live is not necessary”) as a functionalist axiom rather than nihilism.
6. Construct arguments for and against the idea that human beings are a temporary substrate for more efficient, durable forms of intelligence.
7. Design educational frameworks that prepare students not to survive the future, but to serve its functional imperatives.