Technologies of the Anthropocene

Abstract

Rather than a levelling-down of the human to the standing of a biological machine, technologies of the Anthropocene have tended towards sensibilities which level-up a variety of non-humans. In simpler terms, these technologies (such as AI, robotics and the technologies of space exploration) have tended to promote new animistic sensibilities. However, it is important to avoid any assumption that sensibilities entail ontological commitments. In this paper, our basic claim that technologies of the Anthropocene are a driver for animistic sensibilities (the sensibilities claim) is set out and supported by an appeal to the case of space technologies. It is then qualified by appeal to the contrasting case of botanical fieldwork, where a sense of working with the non-human also holds.

Keywords

• ai
• animism
• botany
• robots
• space
• technologies of the anthropocene
• translocal