An Unexpected Journey: Explicit and Implicit Religious Dimensions of Technology Throughout the Ages
Issue: Vol 19 No. 3 (2016)
Journal: Implicit Religion
Subject Areas: Religious Studies
Abstract:
Contrary to a widespread assumption, technology is not a neutral reality which can be left to a purely self-referential understanding. Indeed, one cannot seriously grasp technological phenomena without becoming aware of the symbolic matrixes—that is, the wide sets of values, symbols, beliefs and myths—which have encoded technology in given periods of history. This paper examines these major symbolic matrixes from pre-history to the threshold of the present time. Doing so, it attempts to shed light on the deep relationship between technology and religion, explicit and implicit, from the paleolithic silex to the contemporary iPhone.
Author: Guy Ménard
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