In this paper I wish to challenge certain positions arguing that the human integration with contemporary technology results in a condition of alienation, either: (1) alienation from nature, or (2) alienation in the domain of labour. To this end I will engage in a productive dialogue with various eco-phenomenologists, Gilbert Simondon, Steven Vogel, Roland Kayn, and music theorist Thomas Patteson. Thinking the compositional praxis of Kayn in concert with Simondon and Vogel, as I will show, furnis…
Read moreIn this paper I wish to challenge certain positions arguing that the human integration with contemporary technology results in a condition of alienation, either: (1) alienation from nature, or (2) alienation in the domain of labour. To this end I will engage in a productive dialogue with various eco-phenomenologists, Gilbert Simondon, Steven Vogel, Roland Kayn, and music theorist Thomas Patteson. Thinking the compositional praxis of Kayn in concert with Simondon and Vogel, as I will show, furnishes us with an exciting example of how alienation in both senses may be creatively overcome. Kayn’s work, I argue, is emblematic of Simondon’s vision for the harmonious integration of mankind, nature, and machine, revealing the “wildness” at the heart of machine reality whilst offering a possibility for how human life may reorient itself in an era of automation and artificial intelligence.
