Excavating Cosmotechnics: Disrupting the Silicon Valley metaphor

Netprosafrica In-person Event & Webinar:
Wednesday 10 September 2025 12.30pm GMT

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Title:
Excavating Cosmotechnics: Disrupting the Silicon Valley metaphor

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Speaker: Dr. Eric Orlowski
Research Fellow in AI Governance, National University of Singapore.

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Abstract:
Framing Yuk Hui's cosmotechnics through an ethnographic analysis of historical narrative, this work-in-progress aims to uncover strategies to challenge the notion of a singular, homogenising technological future. The aim of this work is to illuminate how multiple, localised cosmotechnics can coexist--perhaps even compete--offering a richer and more pluralistic understanding of how "technology" is understood, imagined, enacted, and oriented towards the future. The goal is to reveal the diverse, sometimes overlooked pathways by which societies adapt, resist, or reinterpret dominant models of technological progress.

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Further Reading:
Eric’s work-in-progress on excavating cosmotechnical diversity in Sweden and Colombia can be viewed here:

Authors:

Eric Orlowski, Research Fellow in AI Governance, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Juan Forero-Duarte, Teaching Fellow, Department of Anthropology, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

Bio:

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