13 Technical utopias – political illusions?

Abstract

This article aims to justify the thesis that the development of autonomous assistance systems for older people has so far been largely determined by rather irrelevant rationalization logics (e. g. cost economy, standardization and streamlining of processes) and political preferences (economic development) than by sufficient attention being paid to the actual needs, abilities and interests of the addressees. Undesirable developments result from a narrowing to aspects of the functional substitutability of nursing activities and insufficient knowledge, especially of gerontological findings. According to these, the development of technology should, on the one hand, consider the creative potential of old age as technically innervatable resources (empowerment approach) and, on the other hand, consider the fragility and vulnerability of the elderly, especially the very old, as the absolute limit to the substitutability of human attention and psychophysical support. The limits of the use of a therapy robot are shown using the example of an artefact constructed for rehabilitative gait training.