The dictatorship of technology

• Author: Attila Kovács
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 71-78

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 10 (59) No. 2 - 2017

THE DICTATORSHIP OF TECHNOLOGY

Attila KOVÁCS1

Abstract: Technology and totalitarianism seem to be separate domains of

our contemporary world. These two categories are, however, strongly

related: totalitarianism, which pertains to the essence of modernity, also has

a cultural connotation that associates it with the exclusive character of

technological hegemony. Technological dominance can be viewed as a

special configuration of totalitarianism, the understanding of which can take

us a long way towards a deeper comprehension of technology.

Key words: Consumption, Postmodernity, Techné, Technology,

Production, Totalitarianism, Human needs.

1. On dictatorship

The 20th century can be viewed as the century of totalitarianism in several respects.

From a political perspective, few such fierce debates between freedom and constraint can

be found in history as in this century, most often with serious practical consequences. The

tragedy and thought-provoking seriousness of totalitarianism consisted in its necessary

practical results (and it is even questionable whether we can speak of it in the past tense).

Totalitarianism in its political sense is to be interpreted as autocracy, despotism, and

dictatorship, while democracy, conceived of as its opposite, is the free will of the people

(and not just in the political sense). However, we also have to be aware that such a lexical

definition of totalitarianism will keep us away from its essence.

In the following pages, I will attempt to widen the semantic sphere of totalitarian

phenomena beyond the political, in order to assess the character of technological

dominance in the Heideggerian sense and to offer a metaphysical interpretation for this

particular form of totalitarianism. As a first step, I will consider some observations

regarding the essence of totalitarianism, and then I will proceed to the discussion of the

metaphysical structure of totalitarianism that appears under the guise of technology.

The first idea we have to clarify regarding the essence of totalitarianism concerns its

sphere of validity. Our present discussion attempts to draw a comprehensive outline of

totalitarianism, including the demand to explore its metaphysical basis, if there is such a

thing. First of all, totalitarianism is a cultural phenomenon that is absolutistic and

encompassing, radically excluding any exception and counter-opinion. Its beginnings and

original context date back to the first three decades of the last century, a period in which

European humanity began to lose faith in the liberalism in force since the Enlightenment,

and based on the philosophical reading of Hegel and Nietzsche, it began to play with

power and to expose its destiny to power factors that were mostly political and social in

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, kovattila@yahoo.com