The magic of technology

• Verfasst von: Hornborg, Alf [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: The magic of technology
• Titelzusatz: the machine as a transformation of slavery
• Verf.angabe: Alf Hornborg
• Verlagsort: London ; New York, NY
• Verlag: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
• Jahr: 2023
• Umfang: xii, 273 Seiten
• Fussnoten: Includes bibliographical references and index
• ISBN: 978-1-032-21084-1
• ISBN: 978-1-032-22303-2
• DOI: doi:10.4324/9781003272007
• Schlagwörter: (s)Weltgesellschaft / (s)Technologie / (s)Maschine
• Sprache: eng
• Bibliogr. Hinweis: Erscheint auch als : Online-Ausgabe: Hornborg, Alf: Magic of technology. - Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : routledge, 2023 |(DLC)2022015592
• K10plus-PPN: 1809215919

Abstract

Introduction: The secret rationale of the industrial revolution -- Productive forces as social relations : technology as an object for social theory -- The shadow of progress : acknowledging ecologically unequal exchange -- References to technology in critical development theory -- Stealing time and space : the elusive magic of technology -- Energy and labour-power : when all people and all things became instruments -- Money and market valuation as the root of our afflictions -- Beyond objective values : human ideas in a material world -- Solar power for whom? The fantasies of leftist ecomodernism -- Mistaking machines for humans : delusions of the material turn -- The power of signs : the invisibility of social metabolism before the machine -- Progress or parasitism? Money and technology in the world history of inequality -- Dismantling the machine : problems in naming the evil -- Afterword: Beyond the machine.

Abstract

"This book examines our understanding of technology and suggests that machines are counterfeit organisms that seem to replace human bodies but are ultimately means of displacing workloads and environmental loads beyond our horizon. It emphasizes that technology is not the politically neutral revelation of natural principles that we tend to think, but largely a means of accumulating, through physically asymmetric exchange, means of harnessing natural forces to reinforce social relations of power. Alf Hornborg reflects on how our cultural illusions about technology appeared in history and how they continue to stand in the way of visions for an equal and sustainable world. He argues for a critical reconceptualization of modern technology as an institution for redistributing human time, resources, and risks in world society. The book highlights a need to think of world trade in other terms than money and raises fundamental questions about the role of human-artifact relations in organizing human societies. It will be of interest to a range of scholars working in anthropology, sociology, economics, development studies, and the philosophy of technology"--