Technics and Contingency
This text aims to explore the relationship between technics and contingency within a context where computational technologies often have the effect of domesticating the latter, leading to its statistical reduction within the realm of the probable. I will argue that the post-prosthetic and non-corre...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Simon Dawes, Centre d’histoire culturelle des sociétés contemporaines (CHCSC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Media Theory |
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| Online Access: | https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/587 |
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| _version_ | 1849430222295793664 |
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| author | Alan Díaz Alva |
| author_facet | Alan Díaz Alva |
| author_sort | Alan Díaz Alva |
| collection | DOAJ |
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This text aims to explore the relationship between technics and contingency within a context where computational technologies often have the effect of domesticating the latter, leading to its statistical reduction within the realm of the probable. I will argue that the post-prosthetic and non-correlational character of these technologies prompts us to pursue a line of inquiry that calls for a different understanding of contingency. Instead of solely assigning it to domains external to computational technologies (the ‘externality thesis’), this perspective identifies a form of contingency inherent in these technologies themselves (the ‘internality thesis’). I will develop this approach through a comparative analysis of the work of M. Beatrice Fazi and Mark B.N. Hansen, authors who both draw from Alfred N. Whitehead’s process ontology. I will underscore the tensions between their proposals, trying to identify the main divergences within their speculative ontologies of computation. However, I will also propose that we can read them as complementary propositions that account for the ontological productivity of computational media and operations, allowing us to theorise a form of computational contingency independent from the tendencies towards algorithmic closure and determinism present in contemporary technical systems.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7fa1aa32cf894ef28ce992cee3e79806 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2557-826X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Simon Dawes, Centre d’histoire culturelle des sociétés contemporaines (CHCSC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Media Theory |
| spelling | doaj-art-7fa1aa32cf894ef28ce992cee3e798062025-08-20T03:28:05ZengSimon Dawes, Centre d’histoire culturelle des sociétés contemporaines (CHCSC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)Media Theory2557-826X2023-12-017210.70064/mt.v7i2.587Technics and ContingencyAlan Díaz Alva This text aims to explore the relationship between technics and contingency within a context where computational technologies often have the effect of domesticating the latter, leading to its statistical reduction within the realm of the probable. I will argue that the post-prosthetic and non-correlational character of these technologies prompts us to pursue a line of inquiry that calls for a different understanding of contingency. Instead of solely assigning it to domains external to computational technologies (the ‘externality thesis’), this perspective identifies a form of contingency inherent in these technologies themselves (the ‘internality thesis’). I will develop this approach through a comparative analysis of the work of M. Beatrice Fazi and Mark B.N. Hansen, authors who both draw from Alfred N. Whitehead’s process ontology. I will underscore the tensions between their proposals, trying to identify the main divergences within their speculative ontologies of computation. However, I will also propose that we can read them as complementary propositions that account for the ontological productivity of computational media and operations, allowing us to theorise a form of computational contingency independent from the tendencies towards algorithmic closure and determinism present in contemporary technical systems. https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/587computationdigital mediacontingencydigital ontologyWhitehead |
| spellingShingle | Alan Díaz Alva Technics and Contingency Media Theory computation digital media contingency digital ontology Whitehead |
| title | Technics and Contingency |
| title_full | Technics and Contingency |
| title_fullStr | Technics and Contingency |
| title_full_unstemmed | Technics and Contingency |
| title_short | Technics and Contingency |
| title_sort | technics and contingency |
| topic | computation digital media contingency digital ontology Whitehead |
| url | https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/587 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alandiazalva technicsandcontingency |