The Magic of Technology

by Alf Hornborg

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 emphasises 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, the material 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 reconceptualisation 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 organising human societies. It will be of interest to a range of scholars working in anthropology, sociology, economics, development studies, and the philosophy of technology.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published October 20, 2022

About the author

Alf Hornborg, Ph.D. (Cultural Anthropology, University of Uppsala, 1986), is an anthropologist and Professor of Human Ecology in the Department of Human Geography at Lund University, Sweden. Previously he taught at Uppsala University and University of Gothenburg. He serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Ecological Anthropology, Signs,, Journal of World-Systems Research, and Ecological and Environmental Anthropology.

Reviews

[Lars K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hornborg's view on the eco-social crisis we are in is both the most illuminating and shocking one I have come across. That technology is inherently more morally f*cked up and environmentally devastating than we get told feels intuitively right and his argument is extremely persuasive and clear, but one hopes that someone will critique it, cause if it is true the future of humanity seems to be unavoidably grim