The Ancient (and Heretical) Sources of Modern Techno-utopianism by Ken Myers
"The Ancient (and Heretical) Sources of Modern Techno-utopianism" by Ken Myers
In The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis warned of the danger to social and personal life of belief in human progress pursued through a defiant project of conquest over Nature. Lewis noted the kinship between modern “applied science” and early modern magic, both eager to discover “how to subdue reality to the wishes of men.” That project may be quintessentially modern, but the appeal — and alleged propriety — of such a goal has a long pre-modern history. In this lecture, Ken Myers will offer an outline of the narrative that placed technology at the center of what Lewis called the un-christening of the West.