De wraak van de machines over moderniteit, technologie en animisme

Samenvatting

The Revenge of the Machines: Modernity, Technology and Animism. The classical assumption that scientific and technological progress are the main driving forces behind, what Weber called, the "disenchantment of the Western world," is basic knowledge in contemporary sociology. However, this article argues that the implementation of digital technology also stimulates the religious, or more specifically, the animistic imagination. A qualitative analysis of Wired magazine (1993-2000) shows that various computer specialists, who are "supposed" to be the pioneers of a rational, secular, and disenchanted society, can be seen as "technoanimists." They consider our new technological surroundings as an intelligent, autonomous force and express feelings of humility. Exemplary for this phenomenon is a group of ICT experts who refer to themselves as "technopagans." Paradoxically, the explanation for this unforeseen development of "re-enchantment" should be sought in the progress made in the technological fields of artificial intelligence and artificial life. More generally, the ongoing process of rationalization seems to provide a good explanation for the contemporary emergence of technoanimism. 37 References. Adapted from the source document.