Civilization / CANONICAL RECORD
Mechanocene
기계세
The Mechanocene is a phase of technocivilizational transition in which technological environments built by humans acquire relative operational autonomy upon material substrates and sociotechnical organization, and asymmetrically condition human possibilities of sensation, cognition, judgment, and action by datafying, arranging, and feeding back human behavior.
Scholarly status
- Authoritative definition
- Reviewed English text
- Field-level status shown
- Publication links kept distinct from definition evidence
Canonical definition
The Mechanocene is not an age in which machines replace humans, but a phase of transition in which the “reverse ecology” of human-made technological environments acquiring relative operational autonomy and reorganizing subsequent human possibilities becomes manifest on a civilizational scale.
Compare Korean canonical text
기계세는 기계가 인간을 대체하는 시대가 아니라, 인간이 만든 기술환경이 상대적 작동 자율성을 획득하여 인간의 후속 가능성을 다시 조직하는 ‘역전된 생태’가 문명적 규모로 전면화된 전환 국면이다.
Problem statement
Where the Anthropocene attends to the direction in which human activity changes the material environment of the Earth, the Mechanocene focuses on the reverse direction: technological environments made by humans return to constitute the conditions of human existence. This is reverse ecology. Reverse ecology is an asymmetrical feedback structure in which the operational results of technological environments built by humans return as conditions that shape subsequent human action. Reversal does not mean that humans and machines simply exchange positions. It means that causal effects shift from a linear human→technology direction into a recursive human→technology→human circuit.
Scope and distinctions
Where the Anthropocene attends to the direction in which human activity changes the material environment of the Earth, the Mechanocene focuses on the reverse direction: technological environments made by humans return to constitute the conditions of human existence. This is reverse ecology. Reverse ecology is an asymmetrical feedback structure in which the operational results of technological environments built by humans return as conditions that shape subsequent human action. Reversal does not mean that humans and machines simply exchange positions. It means that causal effects shift from a linear human→technology direction into a recursive human→technology→human circuit.
Connected claim
Canonical claim for Mechanocene ↗rh:claim:mechanocene:canonicalDirectly connected sources
Related concepts and relation status
- Artificial NatureProvisional relation · author review pending
- Operational AutonomyProvisional relation · author review pending
- Eco-DigitalProvisional relation · author review pending
Cite this record
Lee, Yongwook. “Mechanocene.” ReHumanities Knowledge, version 1.0. https://knowledge.leehumanities.com/concepts/mechanocene.
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