ABSTRACT
Drawing on the work of Andrew Feenberg, Gilbert Simondon, Yuk Hui, Mary Helms and others, we develop a critical account of human 'technics'—understood broadly as the ‘bringing forth' of the properties and potentialities of physical reality—as an enfolding of planetary and cosmic powers into the social world. We use the contemporary examples of synthetic chemicals and mineral extraction to explore how such a framing illuminates the dangers of modern technology in a new way. We then turn to the longer history of magico-mythical and ritualised ways in which human involvement in potentially dangerous technical activities has been understood and regulated. In the final section, we step back and consider the prospects for a new, ‘spiritualised' or cosmological reimagining of technology in the contemporary world that draws on the insights of both western science and a-modern knowledge formations.
