To critique an emergent technology is to run the commonplace risk of being labelled a “techno-phobe”, someone swayed by an irrational, anti-modernist fear of the unknown. Narrating the case of a Philadelphia anti-technology commune that was bombed by the police in the 1980s, the talk reveals “techno-phobia” to be a deeply misplaced insult that nonetheless continues to play a powerful role in delegitimizing technological critique. Turning the insult on its head, the talk argues that it is often not the techno-critics, but those who blindly embrace technological innovations, who are most strongly driven by fear.

Address
FOTO ARSENAL WIEN
Arsenal Objekt 19A
1030 Vienna

No participant limit, free admission.