The Phenomenon of “Living Machines”: Historical and Philosophical Aspects

Modern technical reality has its roots in the ideas established by philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries. The logic of technologically organized nature, despite the apparent naivety of conceptualizing nature as a machine, nevertheless developed into a full-fledged scientific and technological paradigm. This study examines the concepts of R. Descartes, G. Leibniz, J. de La Mettrie, and I. Kant, which most succinctly represent the matrix structures of thought that created the symbolic image of the natural automaton, and subsequently, the organism. There is a direct ideological continuity between the concept of the natural automaton and the organism, and this study aims to identify and demonstrate this connection. The concept of the natural automaton gives rise to the cybernetic project of the 20th century, which seeks to create machines that operate like organisms – that is, connected to the outside world through a system of direct and feedback loops, capable of self-editing, self-learning, and exhibiting the ability not only to adapt but also to evolve. The concept of a mechanically organized nature as a whole is at the basis of biotechnological activity, represented by modern practices of selection and genetic engineering, which approach the natural body as a structure and strive to create new natures with predetermined properties.