The Question Concerning Technology in China: An Essay in Cosmotechnics

by Yuk Hui

Heidegger’s critique of modern technology and its relation to metaphysics has been widely accepted in the East. Yet the conception that there is only one—originally Greek—type of technics has been an obstacle to any original critical thinking of technology in modern Chinese thought.

Yuk Hui argues for the urgency of imagining a specifically Chinese philosophy of technology capable of responding to Heidegger’s challenge, while problematizing the affirmation of technics and technologies as anthropologically universal.

This investigation of the historical-metaphysical question of technology, drawing on Lyotard, Simondon, and Stiegler, and introducing a history of modern Eastern philosophical thinking largely unknown to Western readers, including philosophers such as Feng Youlan, Mou Zongsan, and Keiji Nishitani, sheds new light on the obscurity of the question of technology in China. Why was technics never thematized in Chinese thought? Why has time never been a real question for Chinese philosophy? How was the traditional concept of Qi transformed in its relation to Dao as China welcomed technological modernity and westernization?

In The Question Concerning Technology in China, a systematic historical survey of the major concepts of traditional Chinese thinking is followed by a startlingly original investigation of these questions, in order to ask how Chinese thought might today contribute to a renewed, cosmotechnical questioning of globalized technics.

Genres: Philosophy, China, Technology, Nonfiction, Theory, Politics, Anthropology

328 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2016

About the author

Yuk Hui studied Computer Engineering and Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong and Goldsmiths College in London, with a focus on philosophy of technology. He currently teaches at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. Between 2012 and 2018 he taught at the institute of philosophy and art (IPK) and Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media of the Leuphana University Lüneburg where he wrote his habilitation thesis. He is also a visiting professor at the China Academy of Art where he teaches a master class with Bernard Stiegler every spring. Since 2019 he is Visiting Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media of City University in Hong Kong. Previous to that, he was a research associate at the Institute for Culture and Aesthetics of Media (ICAM), postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Research and Innovation of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and a visiting scientist at the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories in Berlin. He is initiator of the Research Network for Philosophy and Technology, an international network which facilitates researches and collaborations on philosophy and technology. Hui has published on philosophy of technology and media in periodicals such as Research in Phenomenology, Metaphilosophy, Parrhesia, Angelaki, Theory Culture and Society, Cahiers Simondon, Deleuze Studies, Intellectica, Krisis, Implications Philosophiques, Jahrbuch Technikphilosophie, Techné, Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft, Appareil, New Formations,Parallax, etc. He is editor (with Andreas Broeckmann) of 30 Years after Les Immatériaux: Art, Science and Theory (2015), and author of On the Existence of Digital Objects (prefaced by Bernard Stiegler, University of Minnesota Press, March 2016), The Question Concerning Technology in China. An Essay in Cosmotechnics (Urbanomic, December 2016), and Recursivity and Contingency (Rowman & Littlefield International, February 2019). His writings have been translated into a dozen languages.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most broadly rewarding things I've read in a long time. A fuller review to come later; I can't possibly fit in all my thoughts on it in the short time I've got.

One very simple note: one question that this book brought up for me was "why tradition?" Why does China have to develop its response to modernity from a historical Chinese cosmology? If it's true that the ties to past systems of belief have been completely severed, isn't the situation so far gone that we might as well start from scratch, or from a curated hodgepodge of whatever we find useful in all the traditions of the world? Hui never really says why such an approach would be misguided, but it seems deeply important to his project that, broadly, new alternatives to modern capitalist technics be based on local philosophical history. Does that insistence on continuity with the past come from a conviction that it isn't quite as gone from our thinking as it seems, or is it just impossible to start a cosmological project from scratch in a world where the default conception of nature we're trying to critique also pervades our entire social experience? These questions don't just apply to China; as with everything in the book, China is one (very important) case in a world full of cultures coming to a reckoning with the shortcomings in the transplanted technical thinking that, at this point, is almost completely international.

[Ximena Jiménez]

“[…] we must move away from the visual image of the globe, since it carries with it the question of inclusion and exclusion. The notion of cosmos as ‘house’ and 'sphere' originates from an antique European cosmology; a ‘stimulating image of an all-encompasing sphere’...”

Ya en su libro pasado _Sobre la existencia de los objetos digitales¬_, Yuk Hui había planteado un tiempo metafísico en el que se desarrollan los objetos digitales. En ese volumen escribe sobre la sincronización digital de los sistemas computacionales a escala global (¡en un planeta que no es para nada global o esférico!). Este libro es un gran acierto, con el trabajo filosófico más riguroso posible de nuestro tiempo se demuestra que lo que se entiende como tecnología, ligada a una evolución y desarrollo del pensamiento, está ausente de la cultura china: no hay tecnología en la China contemporánea. Para llevar a cabo esta labor funda el concepto de cosmotécnica, a través del cual hace una propuesta material sólida en contra de la catástrofe ecológica que ha provocado la tecnologización occidental en todo el planeta: la creación de interfaces cosmólogicas que nos regresen la dirección. Es un gran libro que nos pone adelante una labor del pensamiento enorme, pero que es brillante y esperanzadora. Recomendadísimo.

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting the most out of this involves a much greater tolerance for Heidegger than I have, and I'm also unsure if modernity in China and Japan is as much a retread of that of Europe and North America as the author asserts, but: there's a lot of good stuff in this - on the Japanese 'overcoming modernity' movement and how it followed Heidegger into fascism, on why cosmopolitanism is good, not bad, on the 'Needham paradox' on how China didn't use its massive technological head-start to create 'modernity', and the relation of all this to the philosophy of technology. It's quite funny that the publisher put out a full-bore techno-orientalist book about kawaii culture a couple of years later, though.

[Bernardo Moreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

A análise de Hui sobre a questão da cosmologia e a questão da tecnologia oferecem uma reflexão importantíssima para quem busca entender o processo de 'modernização' da China. Hui faz uma genealogia extremamente aprofundada da filosofia chinesa e da filosofia ocidental para pensar a questão da técnica e da tecnologia, construindo suas conclusões a partir das relações entre teoria e processos históricos.
A tese principal de Hui é que a China é o principal expoente de aceleração do projeto de modernidade ocidental, e por isso enfrenta conflitos entre sua cosmologia política, social e econômica com a forma com que a técnica é mobilizada no desenvolvimento do país. Sendo minha pesquisa sobre a ciberpolítica na China, esse livro de Hui foi extremamente importante para pensar a filosofia da tecnologia no contexto chinês. Tenho ressalvas em relação à crítica de Hui ao aceleracionismo e acho que falta uma alternativa a ser oferecida por Hui em relação ao projeto de modernização da China. Se a cosmotécnica está ausente, como construí-la é a questão-chave: Hui a postula, a discute mas não a responde. Talvez seja essa a intenção, de manter a separação entre a problemática e o campo de resolubilidade. De qualquer forma, o trabalho de Hui é de fato importantíssimo e estou animado para ler mais.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yuk Hui sienta acá las bases de lo que trabajará en sus siguientes libros: el problema de la técnica como un vector universal de modernización y la posibilidad de una pluralidad de (cosmo)técnicas situadas. El autor no cae en la trampa de simplemente plantear lo local, ya sea por la vía nacionalista, civilizacional o étnica, como alternativa sencilla al capitalismo global, sino que el libro es un extenso debate con la literatura decolonial y el giro ontológico. Si a estas perspectivas suma un nuevo foco en la tecnología, informado por Heidegger pero marcadamente situado en la tradición de Simondon y la cibernética, Yuk también discute con el aceleracionismo (de izquierda y de derecha) y su noción de un prometeismo unívoco.
El problema central, el de la contradicción entre el Antropoceno como crisis planetaria y el pluralismo de cosmotécnicas como respuesta, permanece abierto. Sin embargo, la propuesta teórica de Yuk es muy sólida, como lo prueba el trabajo sobre las nociones de Dao y Qi de la primera parte (lo que adquirirá más densidad conceptual en Art and Cosmotechnics). En síntesis, un libro clave para el pensamiento contemporáneo.

[rubén gómez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Está muy hot este libro sobre filosofía de la tecnología en China. Sobre cómo el concepto de técnica asumido por la filosofía oriental es ajeno a su cultura y como presupone que la técnica es antropológicamente universal, que se da siempre igual en todas partes. Hui introduce el novedoso concepto de cosmotécnica para dar cuenta de la pluralidad y las especificidades técnico-culturales y de la importante impronta de la cosmología en el pensamiento tecnológico. Rescata grandes figuras del pensamiento filosófico oriental, tanto clásico como recientes, con las que dialoga con autores occidentales de la tradición y contemporáneos. Las críticas a Heidegger con la ayuda de Stiegler, Derrida y otros son excelentes. En contra de la Modernidad y sobre el Antropoceno.

[melancholinary · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really opens a new horizon for me. A new territory that now I crave more. Some mild critic on the unresolved conclusion in the end—mildly obscure and vague in terms of political subjectivity, however, the solid theorisation and grounded philosophising the distinct thread between the East and the West are paid-off. The chapter on Keiji Nishitani, New Confucianism, Joseph Needham's question, sinofuturism, and Simondon theorising antenna tv in relation to the ontological turn in anthropology are just some of the myriad favourite parts of this book. Hope to read more from his other monograph.

[宗儒 李 · Rating 4 out of 5]

還不錯，講了很多聽都沒聽過的中國思想家，後面我本來以為會開始大吹特吹中國哲學的獨特性、可以解釋很多西方哲學視角而言的哲學史所一併帶來的矛盾之類的，結果也沒有。總而言之我是覺得他以一個天人合一路線（cosmotechnics 胡亂翻成中文八成就是這樣吧）來討論中國的科技史是還蠻有趣的。另外在講牟宗三的時候會覺得哇，老兄你真的對新儒家很有愛啊...

要挑問題的話，從這本書來看會覺得中國的思想史，貌似在某個時間點上都只會有某種思考的方向。看的時候會覺得這種近乎斷言式地寫有點可惜。另外他討論的思想家其實也都是中華民國國民教育有教過的人，當然這本書比起基本上沒屁用的國文課本有趣得多，但在看書的時候也會隱然有種感覺：難道中國的哲學沒有潛藏在我們所熟知的大儒者之下的線索，或是根據某時間點發生的特殊事件而產生的方向的巨變嗎？當然提出這些問題也不代表我會想花時間去爬文，我要來趕我的 reading challenge 了

[Tamara (notvibing on storygraph)]

I will never again read a purely philosophical book and you may quote me on that

[Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enorme parte da obra vem da comparação entre uma filosofia que entendo muito mal (heideggeriana) e outra (chinesa), da qual não entendo nada. E mesmo assim, sinto que Yuk Hui trabalhou tão bem a apresentação desses dois campos diferentes, que consegui até entender alguma coisa. Logo, logo, vou voltar e fazer um leitura mais aprofundada, pois sinto que para algumas das minhas ideias, trabalhando o conceito do técnico na Geografia, pode ser muito agradável. Saio daqui querendo enfiar a cara em mais livros de, principalmente, Hui, Stiegler e Heidegger.

Também me evocou uma questão de pensar sobre uma cosmologia latino-americana e onde estariam as diferenças em relação às cosmologias de nossos colonizadores. Num prefácio duma coletânea brasileira de artigos seus, Hui levanta a pergunta das cosmotécnicas maias, incas e amazônicas. Talvez a nossa cosmologia urbana brasileira já esteja sincronizada demais com a modernidade para que seja dela que surgirão alternativas?

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hui argues that Western vs Eastern philosophies differ in how they view the relationship between nature and technology. Theory comprises the entirety of the book, and the reader would benefit from familiarity with Western philosophers (particularly Heidegger). More practical examples illustrating how these opposing worldviews might cause technology development to diverge would've strengthened Hui's thesis.

Hui's key focus is cosmotechnics - the relationship between nature/universe and technology. While alien to Western philosophies, in which technology is associated with defiance (ex. Prometheus creating fire), cosmotechnics pervaded Eastern/Chinese philosophies. In particular, Hui emphasizes that much of Chinese philosophy originates from the harmony between qi (tool, vessel) and dao (a more universal representation of nature) and that Eastern philosophy operated more in the abstract for time and math (concentrating in algebra rather than geometry, unlike the Greeks). I hadn't heard of cosmotechnics before, nor had I considered that Eastern philosophy interpreted man's relationship with technology as rooted in nature and morality. Hence, the first few chapters felt rather original to read.

Then in his final chapter, Hui makes a leap of logic around Eastern cosmotechnics influencing the anthropocene age and climate change solutions, and here's where my grievances come into play (aka where more practical examples could help support Hui's argument). I'd find this take compelling if not for China's modernization contributing heavily to the degradation of the climate...

The intentions of this book might've been expository knowledge around cosmotechnics and its origins in Asia, but with just the musings (and sometimes laundry list) of philosophers as primary means of evidence, I struggle to understand why it's important to care for the differences in cosmotechnics and whether this difference might make an impact on innovation at all. But maybe that's all for Hui to say that it's up to us to consider how the lens of cosmotechnics could be leveraged towards developing better technology -- one can think of "re-foresting" the Internet as one example. Overall, this book deserves a re-read given its hefty weight. It took a little more than a month (since I bought this book from Ark Books in Copenhagen) to fully digest.

(This interview with the author offers a brief overview of the book's themes)

[Valentín Serrano García · Rating 4 out of 5]

(8.5) Fascinante... y pretenciosa en extremo, impresionantemente bien nutrida y, en última instancia, interrogativa en sus fines. El autor demuestra esgrimir con creces la filosofía de la tecnología occidental (De Aristóteles a Heidegger, de Dessauer a Simondon, de Ellul a Stiegler...), lo que ya es grandioso. No contento con eso, Yuk Hui nos da una lección apresurada de filosofía oriental, del confucianismo al budismo zen, del moismo al taoísmo, ilustrando un bosquejo furioso sobre las nociones de Tao, Li, Qui, Ch'i, Sunyata y un largo etcétera.

La cosa no acaba aquí, ¡claro que no! Puesto que, de lo que se trata, es de descifrar qué es la técnica y la tecnología y qué diferentes cosmovisiones culturales pueden iluminarla. Para Yuk Hui estaría la perspectiva occidental con su geometría y temporalidad físicas, con sus kantianismos y desarrollo industrial mecanicista. Y la oriental, con su cálculo de lo inconmensurable, con su búsqueda de las latencias psicológicas y con su concepción estacionaria del tiempo y, a la postre, antihistoricista.

El argumento se complica, pues Yuk Hui se sumerge en los debates más inefables del siglo XX y XX. La escuela de Tokio y Heidegger contra Stiegler y Lyotard. Y así, hasta llegar a un final donde el autor ha demostrado, pese a su juventud, haber revisionado gran parte de la metafísica y materialidad tecnocráticas desde un horizonte oriental y puramente meditativo. Apuntes históricos aquí y allá, reflexiones sin finalizar (lo que es un logro más que una patología) y ¿Qué tenemos? Tan chán, una obra extraña y enigmática en si misma. Quizás infecunda en el sentido político y económico. Pero con un horizonte de grandeza de significados.

Ahora bien, abstengáse los que no están familiarizados ora con la filosofía de la tecnología occidental o, al menos, con el pensamiento oriental taoista, confuciano y budista. El ensayo es denso y arduo aun así, pues tiene multitud de anotaciones y un trasvase de términos (in)traducidos continuamente del chino clásico al mandarín Song, del chino tang al chino Quing, luego al alemán heideggeriano y después al castellano.

En fin, es fascinante, pero también difícil de sopesar y, a menudo, un tanto abosquejado. Entran serias dudas acerca de si todo lo que está planteando el autor realmente lo ha entendido... Por supuesto, no importa. Su valor y temeridad son envidiables.

[Kai Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

The line of argument in this book draws a lot from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, as well as ancient sources (Greek and Chinese) and 20th century French, Chinese and Japanese thinking. So first of all one can state that Yuk Hui has a broad overview of diverse traditions - and as far as I, as a layperson in philosophy, can say, he seems to put them together in fruitful ways. His project is to find ways to overcome the negative effects of modernism by (re-)combining technology on the one hand and mythological/cosmological/metaphysical thinking on the other. His book may also be seen as an alternative answer to postcolonial studies - he sees the shortcomings of postcolonial theories in neglecting its material/technological aspects: "Chakrabarty's critique exemplifies the problem of many postcolonial theories. which tend to reduce political and material questions to the register of inter-textuality in comparative literature."
The book is quite readable even without deep knowledge of Martin Heidegger, though I guess one might gain more from it when having such knowledge. A little bit of experience with classical Chinese philosophy, or at least with the Chinese language, is probably helpful to grasp the distinctions Hui builds based on classical Chinese concepts like Dao (道) and Qi (器) - the latter not be confused with Qi (气). To distinguish between 器 and 气, two words that are pronounced in the same way, Hui uses the older Wades-Giles transcription ch'i for the one of them and the modern hanyu pinyin transcription qi for the other. This may be a workaround for Westerners not capable of reading Chinese characters, but it seems a bit awkward to a reader who does know Chinese.
One point that left me a bit unconvinced, in spite of the elegance of the argument and the balanced weighing of the political aspects of the philosophy presented here (NB: "overcoming modernity" has often been a project of far-right or at least very conservative thinkers), is that I am not so sure if pure philosophy is really able to explain large-scale technological developments in Europe and East Asia. Is it really true, that only the existence of a certain type of philosophy enables mankind to invent technologies?

[Álvaro Nicolás Velásquez Narváez · Rating 5 out of 5]

La tesis central del libro es bastante interesante, la tecnología no es internacional en el sentido Heideggeriano o, más general, del prometeísmo universal que impera en la filosofía occidental. Las actividades técnicas más bien nacen (y no se desprenden) de una imbricación entre la cosmovisión/cosmología y la moral propia de su contexto, ahí es donde Hui sitúa el concepto de Cosmotécnica.

En palabras del autor:
"The concept of cosmothecnics inmediately provides us with a conceptual tool with which to overcome the conventional opposition between technics and nature, and to understand the task of philosophy as that of seeking and affirming the organic unity of the two." (p.20)

La propuesta de Hui es disputar la universalidad tecnológica occidental, que separa técnica de naturaleza, que ha provocado la pérdida de conciencia respecto a los limitaciones propias de la modernidad y llevado a la destrucción política, social y al "Antropoceno"; superar a la vez las propuestas nacionalistas o el fascismo metafísico de la Escuela de Tokyo. A estas respuestas idealistas, Hui propone una integración metafísica/materialista, donde:
"This episteme would in turn condition political, aesthetic, social,and spiritual life (or form of life) and serve as a force of creation and constraint upon knowing."

Durante el libro el autor toma el caso Chino como un ejemplo de desarrollo tecnológico impuesto desde occidente y asumido acríticamente desde la Guerra del Opio, lo que implicó la desestructuración de las fuentes metafísicas de su desarrollo cosmotécnico (Dao y Qi). Propone una integración cosmotécnica que logre superar la modernidad occidental y la falta de conciencia, dando respuestas a la crisis del "Antropoceno".

[Chet]

I knew what I was getting into and knew it would be dense. German and Chinese terms are put in conversation with each other, while the main text is composed in English. All in service of revisiting the question of why China didn't modernize as quickly as Europe did. The perhaps unsurprising shortcoming here is that more is not made of Marxism-Leninism and its powerful practitioners in China, for whom this question has been held in the utmost importance and examined thoroughly. Only Deng Xiaoping is mentioned briefly, and his reliance on Engels's Dialectics of Nature. But this is unfortunately par for the course: books published in Western academic circles are forbidden from taking Marxism-Leninism seriously as an academic/scientific/philosophical approach in its own right. ML can only be look down on as object of critique and Atlanticist outsider condescension. This will be changing quite soon. You can only ignore China's rise for so long. More and more people outside academia are taking Marxism-Leninism seriously, and eventually the academy will catch up too. This book was a great opportunity to play that catch up game but its author avoided taking that chance. Otherwise it's an interesting exploration of the question it poses.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the intellectual exercise of learning about Chinese philosophical traditions in Heidegger-speak. The introduction hooked me with the promise of “cosmotechnics” as an alternate, culturally-specific approach to understanding technology. I kept expecting it to be uncovered as the history of Chinese thought unfolded, but then it wasn’t. Instead, the book ends as more of a conservative gesture around the value of traditional ways of life (even if the discussion of what that means was pretty incomprehensible as more than a posture of disruption - thinking of the clear mirror metaphor from Lyotard). Hui returns to the importance of the Qi-Dao relationship that is central for him, the significance of which is far too opaque to apply. And yet, isn’t that application exactly what he is hoping for? As the book concludes there is an imperative to “overcome modernity” because of climate change, it seems, as that is the notable catastrophe caused by treating the world as a reserve to be exploited. But, isn’t that really more of a political question than a philosophical problem?

[CL Chu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Come for Hui's discussion with Azuma and Stiegler. Chinese philosophy feels so distant yet familiar, and bringing the Kyoto School to the party is messy but fun.

It's admirable how Hui's intellectual historical project takes seriously the Chinese 道統 - which I'd like to (mis)translate as Schmitt's nomos - along with the Western philosophy, but as someone rather ignorant to both of the filed, I wonder if the cosmotechnical problem really is a philosophy one.

The philosophy is much alive in both Asia and the West, but the institution has changed. The same kind of philosophy no longer get oneself a job (other than teaching in university) or a party position. And indeed institution can be viewed as another cosmotechnics, and from there the question becomes an anthropological one.

My uncertainty about what should take from Hui's philosophy should not deter anyone interested in China to check out the book. It's definitely a refreshing read.

[Silvia Zuleta Romano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro profundo y tedioso. Requiere de muchas lecturas previas. E impulsa a lecturas posteriores. Todo se centra en la pregunta de porqué China no evolucionó tecnologicamente a un estado de avance que sí vio occidente. Se esbozan varias teorías que tienen que ver con la tradición china. Piketty ve en la guerra el factor clave de avance tecnológico en Europa, Yuk Hui se implica en la cultura y en repensar la misma pregunta. Un libro que requiere de una clase magistral previa y lecturas complementarias. Hecho en falta un índice analítico. Aun así, la edición es buena y las notas al pie, muy jugosas.

[Sebastián Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta obra ofrece oxígeno a los debates sobre lo global y lo local en el desarrollo de la técnica y la tecnología, así como también en las discusiones sobre las diferencias ontológicas y epistémicas en la producción de conocimiento y prácticas técnicas. Plantea una crítica rigurosa a los fundamentos metafísicos desde los cuales hemos entendido la técnica y propone caminar hacia una reflexión sistemática que unifique el orden cósmico y moral en la búsqueda por una diversidad de cosmotécnicas.

[Nils · Rating 4 out of 5]

The basic thesis of this book is that technology as it is understood in the west today -- as something apart from humans that transforms our relationship to nature into one of mastery and control -- has never existed as such in the East, and in China particularly, except as an imposition of Western thinking from without.

[Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jeroen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Capitalism is the contemporary cosmotechnics that dominates the planet. Neo-China arrives from the future.

[Enzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really nice. I'm looking forward to dig deeper into this guy.

[Samuelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ngl, j'ai pas tout tout compris

[Jey Islander · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't buy in his idea. mostly author was fear about the modern technology which i did as well to be the only path to the end. but you can not pick up a stick to stop it.

[sahara dolores · Rating 5 out of 5]

mi libro fav de ensayo de este año,,.,. tiene partes complejas de leer pero merecen la pena y están hiladas hasta el último término es increíble.,.,

[Angela Sha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly fascinating approach and comparative framework that introduces important thinkers on technology in the East and West, but I found the framing in the Introduction more promising than the actual execution of some chapters (mainly because it includes immensely expansive histories but glosses over their detail in ways that I found to be unproductive). 3.5/5

[Chianna Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some really interesting ideas, but most of the important stuff can be gleaned from a close reading of the introduction chapter. The Chinese philosophy jumped about a bit too much, and the Western philosophy felt a bit incomprehensible. I come from a background in Chinese philosophy, but it felt you needed to have a comprehensive background in both to even vaguely understand what he was saying. He criticizes post colonial perspectives holding up other cosmologies against western cosmology, and yet it feels he does exactly that. He also kept talking about needing an alternate solution to “overcoming modernity” through the creation of a cosmotechnics that’s not just a return to tradition, and yet I feel like he never proposes his own novel solution. Ultimately, this book is really just a starting place...but it's a 300+ page starting place.

[P David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vital for understanding a different direction for our relation to technology

Yuk Hui explores the complexity of cosmotechnics and how our relation to a kind of awareness and knowledge of the relationship among things, people, and history helps us find new paths for our cultures.