Organised by
the cluster of excellence Pasts in the present and the MSH Mondes
from 25th to 27th March 2025 (Nanterre and Paris)
Wherever digital solutions and artificial intelligence (AI) have spread, whatever the creative domain or human activity, the impression of having a total, even universal, all-terrain technology has never been so strong. We cannot ignore that the digital revolution, while apparently offering simplicity and ease-of-use is accompanied by a rather remarkable invisibilization of technology’s infrastructure, leaving its users ignorant to the processes and material elements that encompass even the simplest tools. Homo comfort, as the Italian anthropologist Stefano Boni calls it, lives in a hypertechnological world, in which he is ignorant of most of its systems. How can one understand the least-effort infrastructure in which we live when recontextualized within nearly 3.3 million years of technological externalization ? Were 3.3 million years of experimentation necessary to arrive at this point, or rather, did we need to collectively forget our entire history in order to accept our current situation? Has exteriorization always been synonymous with emancipation, optimization (of effort), and inversely, with reduction (of ability) ? [...] Full argument
You can download the full argument in French and English in pdf format at the bottom of this page, in the Documents section.
Organizing committee
Lars Anderson, associate professor at University Paris Nanterre, member of TEMPS
Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes, director, MSH Mondes ; head of Project, cluster of excellence Pasts in the Present
Emmanuel Grimaud, senior fellow researcher at CNRS, member of the LESC, scientific coordinator, cluster of excellence Les passés dans le présent
Julien Schuh, associate professor at University Paris Nanterre, member of CSLF, deputy director, MSH Mondes
Scientific committee
Frédérique Brunet, fellow researcher at CNRS, member of ArScAn
Guillaume Carnino, associate professor, University de Technology of Compiègne
Ludovic Coupaye, associate professor et director of the Centre for the Anthropology of Technics and Technodiversity, University College, London
Servanne Monjour, associate professor, Sorbonne University, member of Cellf
Agnès Giard, writer and anthropologist
Thierry Hoquet, university professor, University Paris Nanterre, membre de l’IREPH
Marc-Antoine Pencolé, associate professor, associate member of SOPHIAPOL
Alfonso Ramirez Galicia, INRAP, associate member of TEMPS
Peter Stirling, scientific projects support officer, The French National Library (BnF)
John Tresch, Mellon Chair and professor at The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Studies, University of London
Gwenola Wagon, associate professor HDR, Université Paris 8
Fabienne Wateau, senior fellow researcher at CNRS, member of the LESC
Nathan Schlanger, professor, École nationale des chartes
Proposal format:
- For individual contributions: one-page argument in French or English; with short bio- and bibliography summary, contact details for the follow-up;
- For workshops (contributions to suggested workshops or new proposal: two-page note of intent (argument, method, equipment requirements, potential participants) in French or English, with short bio- and bibliography summary, contact details for the follow-up.
- Proposals in the form of demonstrations, experiments or performances: two-page memorandum of intent (argument, method, equipment requirements, potential participants) in French or English, with short bio- and bibliography summary, contact details for the follow-up.
All proposals should be sent before October 15 2024 (before noon Paris time) at the following address: technocritique.s@passes-present.eu
More information is available upon requirement at the same address.
