ABSTRACT
This chapter is an exploration, from the perspective of political anthropology and philosophical anthropology, of the new type of human condition that is currently taking shape with the advent of a wide range of smart technologies. Digital technologies of communication, transport, telepresence, interface, workflow optimisation, etc. advance at high speed, and social scientists have little time to reflect upon, to discern and to analyse the fundamental ways in which such technologies alter, fracture and reshape our basic modes of being-in-the-world and of relating with each other. As coding and algorithms claim an ever-increasing importance in the governance of ourselves and our communities, this chapter tries to anticipate in some of the unintended consequences of this engineering fever, which is being highly encouraged and supported by many governments and transnational organisations in the developed countries. It is shown that these technologies alter social action and object/agent relationships at a deep level and give rise to a shift in the political, economic and social structure of society. The chapter argues that this global attempt at ‘technologising the social’ is part of the long-term march of modernity towards a trickster-inspired universe that is plunged into a state of permanent liminality.
