Call for Thematic Articles

Call for Thematic articles (no.5, Fall 2023)

In Tools for Conviviality, Illich warned of crossing the watershed after which technology turns counterproductive; when it turns from a means for human purposes to enslaving ends.

In this 50 year old book written in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Illich outlined criteria by which to recognize that turning point. Curiously, it was in 2000, at a scientific meeting in that very city, that the Nobel Laureate in biochemistry Paul Crutzen pronounced the era of the “Anthropocene”, an era during which techno-scientific civilization has decisively interrupted natural rhythms to the detriment of well-being. The “Anthropocene” may have been avoided if Illich’s argument was taken seriously.

The 5th issue of Conspiratio (scheduled for December 2, 2023) is given to a dissection and elaboration of Illich’s arguments concerning tools. Please send in your articles that engage with such topics as: the historicity of the instrument/tool or of specific techniques; the social and political consequences of new and old tools; and whether and how tools can still be considered convivial today. Also encouraged are articles that compare and contrast Illich with other thinkers on the history and philosophy of technology.

The deadline to submit such articles is September 30, 2023.

To submit your article, click here.