The Machine as Myth

The essay argues that the notion of the machine should be understood as a mythological concept that is used to frame the cultural understanding of technics in the modern era. The author outlines the diversity of understandings of the term “machine” and shows how the same narrative core underwrites virually all modern references to the machine: a human-made technical system that increasingly gains autonomy and becomes an existential, though non-lethal threat for humans. The text proposes to investigate works of twentieth-century “machine art” in order to arrive at alternative readings of the relationship between humans and technics.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Andreas Broeckmann

Conference

Publication date: May 2018

Publication date (Print): May 2018

Pages: 1-7

Affiliations

[1 ] Leuphana University

Lüneburg, Germany

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVAC18.49

SO-VID: 9889265e-868c-48ec-b6b0-671d4e43245e

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Politics of the Machines - Art and After

Conference acronym: EVA Copenhagen

Conference number: 7

Conference location: Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Conference date: 15 - 17 May 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Digital arts and culture

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVAC18.49

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

References

G Agamben 2009 What Is an Apparatus? 2006 What Is an Apparatus? and Other Essays Stanford University Press Stanford, CA
J. AssmannA. 1998 Mythos H. Cancik e.a. Handbuch religionswissenschaftlicher Grundbegriffe Kohlhammer Stuttgart
R Barthes 2009 Mythologies 1957 Vintage London
H Blumenberg 1985 Work on Myth 1979 MIT Press Cambridge, MA
H Blumenberg 2010 Paradigms for a Metaphorology 1960 Cornell University Press Ithaca, NY
A Broeckmann 2016 Machine Art in the Twentieth Century MIT Press Cambridge, MA
M Burckhardt 1999 Der Geist der Maschine Campus Frankfurt/M
M Burckhardt 2002 Das Monster und seine telematische Guillotine K. P. Dencker Interface 5 – Die Politik der Maschine Hans Bredow Institut Hamburg
M Carrouges 1975 Directions for Use H. Szeemann The Bachelor Machines Rizzoli New York
G DeleuzeF. Guattari 2004 Anti-Oedipus 1972 Continuum London
B Dotzler 2005 Medeamaschinen Paragrana 14 2 119 144
M Foucault 1970 The Order of Things 1966 Pantheon London
J Habermas 1970 Technology and Science as 'Ideology' Toward a Rational Society Beacon Press Boston
D Haraway 1991 A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century 1985 Simians, Cyborgs, and Women Free Association Books London
F Hunger 2017 Artificial Des-Intelligence or Why machines will not take over the world. At least not now http://databasecultures.irmielin.org/artificial-des-intelligence/ 5 June 2018
S. I. Johnston 2019 The Story of Myth Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA
M. Le Bot 1975 The Myth of the Machine H. Szeemann The Bachelor Machines Rizzoli New York
M. R. Marburger 2018 Weiser Edition_, Cologne
J. J. Marshall 2012 Machine Art, 1934 University of Chicago Press Chicago, IL
L Mumford 1967–1970 The Myth of the Machine 2 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich New York
H U. ReckJ. ClairH. Szeemann 1999 Junggesellenmaschinen Springer Vienna
H Schmidgen 2004 Thinking technological and biological beings: Gilbert Simondon's philosophy of machines Unpubl. lecture manuscript
A. S Stone 1996 The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age MIT Press Cambridge, MA

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] G Agamben 2009 What Is an Apparatus? 2006 What Is an Apparatus? and Other Essays Stanford University Press Stanford, CA

[2] J. AssmannA. 1998 Mythos H. Cancik e.a. Handbuch religionswissenschaftlicher Grundbegriffe Kohlhammer Stuttgart

[3] R Barthes 2009 Mythologies 1957 Vintage London

[4] H Blumenberg 1985 Work on Myth 1979 MIT Press Cambridge, MA

[5] H Blumenberg 2010 Paradigms for a Metaphorology 1960 Cornell University Press Ithaca, NY

[6] A Broeckmann 2016 Machine Art in the Twentieth Century MIT Press Cambridge, MA

[7] M Burckhardt 1999 Der Geist der Maschine Campus Frankfurt/M

[8] M Burckhardt 2002 Das Monster und seine telematische Guillotine K. P. Dencker Interface 5 – Die Politik der Maschine Hans Bredow Institut Hamburg

[9] M Carrouges 1975 Directions for Use H. Szeemann The Bachelor Machines Rizzoli New York

[10] G DeleuzeF. Guattari 2004 Anti-Oedipus 1972 Continuum London

[11] B Dotzler 2005 Medeamaschinen Paragrana 14 2 119 144

[12] M Foucault 1970 The Order of Things 1966 Pantheon London

[13] J Habermas 1970 Technology and Science as 'Ideology' Toward a Rational Society Beacon Press Boston

[14] D Haraway 1991 A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century 1985 Simians, Cyborgs, and Women Free Association Books London

[15] F Hunger 2017 Artificial Des-Intelligence or Why machines will not take over the world. At least not now http://databasecultures.irmielin.org/artificial-des-intelligence/ 5 June 2018

[16] S. I. Johnston 2019 The Story of Myth Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA

[17] M. Le Bot 1975 The Myth of the Machine H. Szeemann The Bachelor Machines Rizzoli New York

[18] M. R. Marburger 2018 Weiser Edition_, Cologne

[19] J. J. Marshall 2012 Machine Art, 1934 University of Chicago Press Chicago, IL

[20] L Mumford 1967–1970 The Myth of the Machine 2 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich New York

[21] H U. ReckJ. ClairH. Szeemann 1999 Junggesellenmaschinen Springer Vienna

[22] H Schmidgen 2004 Thinking technological and biological beings: Gilbert Simondon's philosophy of machines Unpubl. lecture manuscript

[23] A. S Stone 1996 The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age MIT Press Cambridge, MA

Celebrating 65 years of The Computer Journal - free-to-read perspectives - bcs.org/tcj65