Many of the problems associated with technology are being glossed over. The legacy of capitalism, should we ever manage to get rid of it, will be a heavy one in any case. How, for example, can we put an end to nuclear power, when dismantling and making safe old plants is proving so complicated and dangerous? Not to mention the thousands of tons of radioactive waste that nobody knows what to do with. But there’s also the psychological imprint of all the technologies of domination on people’s minds. Technologies which are the direct reflection of capitalist ideology, its way of seeing the world and adapting it to its needs and perpetuation. Like all systems of totalitarian essence, capitalism seeks to lock the door on possible alternatives to its sinister reign (the Thousand-Year Reich…). Getting people used to not being able to live without the aid of various prostheses (oh, the miracle of the smartphone!) is part of this global strategy. A communalist society will certainly not be able to do without various forms of techniques, if only, as Bookchin notes, to get away from alienating work and free up time for living, building and discovering oneself – for the deepening and blossoming of human relationships too. But it will do so in a completely reversed perspective, where the common interest and spiritual enrichment of all will take precedence.
We’re counting on the tremendous creativity that will emerge from a society where everyone has their place and can deploy their particular talents. A society in which no one can claim to be above the others – a truly egalitarian society in which everyone rediscovers the desire to participate and contribute. The brief revolutionary moments in history (always quickly suppressed until now) have shown all the signs of this effervescence, of all these possibilities opening up. In this, we can probably hope.
Translated by TerKo with the help of a free translation tool.
Rebounds:
- “LIBERALISM” – Social Ecology ABC
- 🛠️ Communotechny — Towards a social ecology of techniques
- Towards a Liberatory Technology
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