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Quantified Lives and Vital Data pp 17–43Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Theorising Personal Medical Devices

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Part of the book series: Health, Technology and Society ((HTE))

Abstract

This chapter theorises Personal Medical Devices (PMDs) as technologies and as agents in the construction of self and society. PMDs are at the forefront of technological evolution, taking on biological properties. As interactive network devices, they also connect to issues pertaining to Big Data and the sensor society, including new ways of being tracked and hacked. But these new technologies also map onto old anxieties regarding what it is to be human. We have always used technologies to be competent in the world and to enhance ourselves. For this reason, it is urged that we see PMDs as prostheses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Steve Matthewman

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  1. Steve Matthewman
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Correspondence to Steve Matthewman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

    Rebecca Lynch

  2. School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Conor Farrington

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Matthewman, S. (2018). Theorising Personal Medical Devices. In: Lynch, R., Farrington, C. (eds) Quantified Lives and Vital Data. Health, Technology and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95235-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95235-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95234-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95235-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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