Technology as a planetary phenomenon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bronislaw Szerszynski<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this talk, I firstly explore four possible interpretations of the use of the term ‘planetary’ to describe contemporary technology: (i) that modern technology is increasingly globally distributed and networked, (ii) that technology is developing the dynamic characteristics of an autopoietic, self-steering planetary system, (iii) that technology ‘enframes’ and thereby ontologically diminishes the planet and (iv) that technology in the broadest sense is always already<\/em> planetary: that it has its roots, its conditions of possibility, in the very nature of what Nigel Clark and I (2021) call ‘planetary multiplicity’ \u2013 the capacity and tendency of planets to constantly self-differentiate, to become other to themselves at all spatial and temporal scales. Secondly, I turn to the specific form that this always-already planetary technicity manifests in human life, using the concept of ‘earthly multitudes’: human collectives that have learned to work in skilful ways with processes of planetary self-differentiation. Thirdly, I turn to the distinctive evolutionary path taken by human technology, which has led to a contemporary technosphere that seems to follow its own endogenous and self-reproducing laws of development. Fourthly and finally, I explore how we might identify latent possibilities in the planetary present that indicate alternative planetary futures, involving new kinds of earthly multitude and different relations with technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Technology as a planetary phenomenon Bronislaw Szerszynski In this talk, I firstly explore four possible interpretations of the use of the term ‘planetary’ to describe contemporary technology: (i) that modern technology is increasingly globally distributed and networked, (ii) that technology is developing the dynamic characteristics of an autopoietic, self-steering planetary system, (iii) that technology ‘enframes’ and thereby ontologically diminishes the planet and (iv) that technology in the broadest sense is always already planetary: that it has its roots, its conditions of possibility, in the very nature of what Nigel Clark and I (2021) call ‘planetary multiplicity’ \u2013 the capacity and tendency of planets to constantly self-differentiate, to become other to themselves at all spatial and temporal scales. Secondly, I turn to the specific form that this always-already planetary technicity manifests in human life, using the concept of ‘earthly multitudes’: human collectives that have learned to work in skilful ways with processes of planetary self-differentiation. Thirdly, I turn to the distinctive evolutionary path taken by human technology, which has led to a contemporary technosphere that seems to follow its own endogenous and self-reproducing laws of development. Fourthly and finally, I explore how we might identify latent possibilities in the planetary present that indicate alternative planetary futures, involving new kinds of earthly multitude and different relations with technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-341","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature-strikes-back.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature-strikes-back.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature-strikes-back.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature-strikes-back.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature-strikes-back.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature-strikes-back.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":357,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature-strikes-back.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341\/revisions\/357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature-strikes-back.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}