Robert Rosenberger is a professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he is currently serving as the President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology.
His work explores the ways that our everyday technologies shape our experience. His continuing case studies include investigations into topics such as phantom phone vibrations, Mars satellite imaging, the experience of e-reading, neurobiological sample freezing techniques, and frog dissection computer simulations. On the theory side, Rosenberger is a developer of the “postphenomenological” philosophical framework, a perspective which considers the practical implications of the various ways we experience technology.
A central long-term project has been the analysis of the driving impairment associated with using the phone. Over the last decade, Rosenberger has developed a postphenomenological interpretation of the empirical data or smartphones and driver distraction, published a stack of articles on the topic, and has become an public advocate for traffic safety. This line of work has culminated in his 2024 book, Distracted: A Philosophy of Cars and Phones, with University of Minnesota Press.
Another central project is the critique of anti-homeless design. Through the application of these philosophical ideas, Rosenberger has developed an account of the various ways the built environment is designed to discriminate against the unhoused, and how these designs often work in conjunction with anti-homeless law. This connects up with the emerging literature on “hostile architecture,” and Rosenberger is developing a postphenomenological account of hostile public-space design. See his short, polemical book on this published with University of Minnesota Press in 2017, entitled Callous Objects: Designs Against the Homeless.
Robert Rosenberger is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of the book series “Postphenomenology & the Philosophy of Technology” with Lexington Books/Rowman Littlefield Press. With Peter-Paul Verbeek he has co-edited the book Postphenomenological Investigations: Essays in Human-Technology Relations. And with Samantha Jo Fried he has co-edited the book Postphenomenology and Imaging: How to Read Technology. He is also the editor of a collection of Don Ihde’s most important works entitled The Critical Ihde with SUNY Press, as well as the interview book Philosophy of Science: 5 Questions with Automatic/VIP Press. He serves as Book Review Editor for the journal Techne: Research in Philosophy and Technology.
Some links:
Rosenberger’s Georgia Tech homepage: https://spp.gatech.edu/people/person/robert-rosenberger
The Society for Philosophy and Technology: http://www.spt.org
Distracted: A Philosophy of Cars and Phones: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517916565/distracted/
Callous Objects: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/callous-objects
Read Callous Objects free online here: https://manifold.umn.edu/projects/callous-objects
Postphenomenological Investigations: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739194386/Postphenomenological-Investigations-Essays-on-Human%E2%80%93Technology-Relations
Postphenomenology and Imaging: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793604552/Postphenomenology-and-Imaging-How-to-Read-Technology
Postphenomenology & the Philosophy of Technology book series: https://rowman.com/Action/SERIES/_/PPPT/Postphenomenology-and-the-Philosophy-of-Technology
The Critical Ihde: https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-Critical-Ihde
A video on phantom vibration syndrome: https://spp.gatech.edu/features/phantom-vibration-syndrome
An episode of the Unbroken Chain podcast with Maura McNamara, “The Politics of Perception,” on Callous Objects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-IwS0xotK0