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Interesting that for most people this free associated with literal magic, pagan spiritualities, animism etc. For me it connects mainly to observation/measurement instruments and tools, ways of seeing etc. Enchantment is a radically empiricist mode for me.
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McLuhan approach: enchantment is unconscious media extensions. Disenchantment is autoamputation. Re-enchantment is new media extensions. New sensory leaks.
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Sensory leakage fits here somewhere
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A hidden peril of being stuck indoors too much is lack of sensory leakage. Unexpected sights, smells, tastes, noises, textures. "Home" is sensory closure. All sensations are familiar. Stumbling across novel sensations at home is really rare.
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Having slept on this it strikes me that much of my own disenchantment stems from all these people trying to pursue their anti-modern re-enchantment programs 🤣 Like someone remarked that Q was a re-enchantment project. That example kinda sums up the problem with the idea.
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100% same. I worry about this a lot. The rise of post- or anti-enlightenment re-enchantment Also, for me, in tech my disillusionment is driven by the rise to dominance of enchantment visions (cryptocurrency, AI, space) towards which I feel a mix of skepticism and disgust.
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Haha I like all 3 of those things but am definitely not in the larger enchantment fields around them. I like the technologies and potential themselves, but the reenchantment tribes around each I can do without.
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Yeah. The closest I’ve come to being re-enchanted by tech recently was my brush with synthbio at the Media Lab and in my Minority Report futurism work (‘12-‘15). A lot of amazing stuff happening there. Would have required too much knowledge retooling to pursue with any depth tho.
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