Forgetting Skills and Suppressing Skills Risks of "Autonomous Technology" from an Anthropological Perspective

The thesis of this article is that the primary risks of "autonomous" technologies consist in the fact that they lead to an oblivion of capabilities ( F & auml;higkeitenvergessenheit ) and to a capability displacement ( F & auml;higkeitenverdr & auml;ngung ) of basic human abilities. In order to make this thesis plausible, the human being is first interpreted against the background of a Capability Approach. In this context, three central determinants of the human being are revealed, namely the physicality ( K & ouml;rperlichkeit ) and corporeality ( Leiblichkeit ) of the human being, and the cultural web of references and relationships in which the human being is interwoven since birth. With recourse to Friedrich Nietzsches' interpretation of the so-called "last man", it becomes possible to outline the oblivion of capabilities. Since capabilities are not only forgotten but also suppressed in the context of digital technologies, Paul Ric oe ur's "Phenomenology of the Able Man" can be used to make this visible.