I’m currently reading: Technic and Magic by Federico Campagna.

It’s a dense but fascinating philosophical exploration of the age of Technic, absolute language and its throttlehold over our current (un)reality. As well as how we might embrace the “ineffable” as a way to dream up alternative cosmologies… Oof!

Right now, I’m in the “claustrophobic sphere of Technic” part of the book, filled with provocations like:

Who does or doesn’t get to “exist” in Technic’s (un)reality?

What happens if you’re made extinct within Technic, before physical death?

What is the psychopathological impact of living within an industrial (un)reality where everything exists only, as Heidegger put it, as a “stockpile of standing reserve”?

It’s a heavy read, but one that feels vital as a way to navigate some of the most pressing ethical and social concerns of our time. To challenge things at the level of reality-making, versus the seemingly immoveable infrastructure of Technic.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the second half of the book where we emerge through the looking glass into the “Magic” section. At which point we can start to imagine once more, and to embrace the ineffable quality of life that marks actual existence over nihilistic Technic phantoms.

It’s also reminded me to re-investigate Pythagorean numerology, Newton’s interest in alchemy and Babbage’s fascination for the occult…

This way madness lies. And perhaps, who knows, a secret door out of Technic.