Technotheology

Άρδην, τεύχος 24, Μάρτιος - Απρίλιος 2000

Ι.Α. Τσουκαλά, Όνειρο ή εφιάλτης;
Γ. Σχίζας, Μετά τον άνθρωπο, το χάος
Σπ. Μάνδρος, Ο μύθος του μετανθρώπου
Το Λεξικό του Μετανθρωπισμού
W. Singer, Η εξέλιξη δεν προγραμματίζεται
Neil Gross, INTERNET, ο εγκέφαλος του κόσμου
Kai Wou, Η επιστροφή του Προμηθέα
Θ. Ζιάκας, Μετά το άτομο τι;
V. Vinge, Η επερχόμενη τεχνολογική μοναδικότητα
Γ. Ζαμιάτιν, Εμείς
Αλ. Χάξλεϋ, Ο θαυμαστός καινούργιος κόσμος
Γ. Καραμπελιάς, Στο σταυροδρόμι της ανθρώπινης ιστορία
Σιμόν Ντέιβις,  Άννα Νόβα, η κυβερνοπαρουσιάστρια

Dialogue on Deep Learning as Alchemical Opus

The paper offers a detailed comparative analysis of the ontologies and knowledge paradigms behind the Deep Learning (DL) and the Renaissance sciences, such as alchemy and astrology. We argue that these domains of knowledge have much in common and can be viewed as homological (structurally equivalent). Such a comparison helps to redefine the problem of interpretability of artificial neural networks (ANNs).

Куртов, Михаил. Диалог о глубинном обучении как алхимическом делании // Синий диван. Под ред. Е. Петровской. 2019. №23. C. 90-124.

This article examines the origin of the concept of medium and of media theory as an area of knowledge. It claims that the concept of medium in the modern sense was first introduced in the works of German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach. Attempting to re-read Feuerbach’s texts to reveal his original methodology and to “scrub” it of prevailing (mainly Hegelian and Marxist) interpretations, the author briefly traces the impact of this method— defined as a combination of three operations: an “inversion,” a determination of “material means,” and a “translation”—on the development of post-Feuerbachian thought. The question of “material means” is central to Feuerbach’s critical project and is directly linked to a “translation” procedure. Considered together, these two essentially coincide with the questions of medium and mediation as they are presented in media theory (particularly in Marshall McLuhan and Régis Debray). In conclusion, the author discusses the theological background of the concept of medium and introduces the concept of a “cultural Filioque.”

Mikhail A. Kurtov (2019) “Whence the Means?” Ludwig Feuerbach and the
Origin of Media Theory, Russian Studies in Philosophy, 57:2, 128-154
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10611967.2019.1628570

Логос. 2016. №4. С. 95-118.

Popodicy. A Technnotheological Reading of Popular Music

This paper provides a genetic analysis of popular music from both the technical and religious perspectives. Tht phenomenon of popular music is thought to be based on a sound record that is regarded as a medium in three ways: 1) as a techno-economic artifact (medium), 2) as a carrier of a love text (mediator), and 3) as a part of everyday life (milieu). The author traces the theological origin of these three concepts (medium, love, the everyday). For this purpose, the author introduces the notion of translation, which is the main tool of technotheological analysis. The history of translation from Young Hegelians to media theory is briefly explored. In the era of late industrialization, the techno-economic medium and the everyday both appear as a complete translation of theological content and love as its incomplete translation, or a “theological residue.”
Love is not fully translated (disenchanted, rationalized), and it thus becomes a key text (message) of pop culture media. The function of love being transmitted by means of sound media is the “bearing” of the everyday, the defense from it, whereas the anthropotheotechnical function of popular music in general is the stimulation of the will under conditions of “death” or “weakness of God.” The convergence of the technological, the economic, and the religious in a sound record is made possible by a unifying technotheological scheme. In order to replicate, love as theological residue parasitically exploits pop culture artifacts, while the economic and theological dimensions of pop media are symbiotic. The final beneficiary of both parasitism and symbiosis is capital, but the possibility of obtaining economic benefis stems from a certain theological construct, namely the technotheological scheme of filioque (“pop culture filioque”).

В статье предпринимается попытка рассматривать понятие техники как эквивокальное (омонимическое). На основе метаантропологии Жильбера Симондона выдвигается гипотеза, согласно которой означивание технического осуществляется за счет взаимных отсылок серии технических означающих и серии религиозных означающих как двух параллельных омонимических рядов. Знание о человеке с Античности и до наших дней переинтерпретируется как обусловленное отношением технической и религиозной мысли, или как надстройка над технотеологическим базисом. Всего выделяется четыре этапа эволюции этого базиса, или четыре технотеологические сборки (древнегреческая, христианская, просветительская и младогегельянская), и дается их краткое описание. Под углом метаантропологии переосмысляется и судьба гуманитарных наук.

A comparison of Russian and Western European cultures in the technotheological perspective, basing on the first introduced concepts of the Small and Big Breakdowns and Repairs. Аn extension of the article "Russia: Hypernoncoincidence" (https://www.academia.edu/27314013/).