In biological taxonomy, the Linnaean binomial name for the human species is Homo sapiens. The name is taken from Latin, with “Homo” meaning human being and “sapiens” meaning wise.
Various thinkers have taken the term Homo sapiens and adapted it in interesting ways. Philosophers and sociologists use the term Homo faber to describe the ability of our species to make and use tools. Over the past century or so, economists have adopted the term Homo economicus to characterize humans as “rational” beings motivated exclusively by self-interest.
There have been many other parallel characterizations such as Homo ludens, the playing human, Homo loquens, the talking human, and Homo mendax, the lying human.
In looking at our current society, the term Homo sapiens, the wise human, seems almost oxymoronic. Certainly this is an era in which new technologies are changing our lives in ways which were unimaginable only a few years ago. Yet, there seems to be little wisdom underlying the development and marketing of these technologies. As a result, we are unable to control much less even understand the unintended consequences of what we have wrought. Often it feels like we are living a real-life version of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice scene in the film “Fantasia,” but we have no sorcerer who can come in to save us from what we have unleased in our ignorance.
The situation offers an interesting theme for a dystopian film in which Homo faber mates with Homo economicus to produce a new species, Homo frankensteinicus.