From the time a prehistoric ancestor harnessed fire, pulled a lump of charcoal from the smoldering ashes, and etched primitive figures on the wall, art has been tied to technology and the question of what it means to be human. The New Museum, the sole institution of its kind in New York entirely dedicated to contemporary art, doesn’t look at deep history in its current exhibition, but it nonetheless reveals the universal ways artists have reacted to innovations by exploring ontological questions.