Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale

Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Monographic journal issue | 53 | Supplemento | 2019
Research Article | Utopia, determinismo tecnologico, ingegneria sociale: la dianetica tra scienza e fantascienza

Utopia, determinismo tecnologico, ingegneria sociale: la dianetica tra scienza e fantascienza

Abstract

In May 1950 L. R. Hubbard published in a science fiction magazine “Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science”, which would later form the basis of Scientology. Emerging from the technocratic mindset typically associated with the periodical, the article considered the human brain as a computer in need of rewiring, giving birth to a peculiar kind of utopian thinking whose aim was not the creation of a ‘new man’, but the return to an original perfection of the mind. Through an examination of this text and its context, I propose to investigate the relationship between engineering culture and literary fictions, trying to understand how the mind-computer analogy shaped the vision of a regenerated society.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: March 21, 2019 | Accepted: May 27, 2019 | Published Nov. 27, 2019 | Language: it

Keywords Technological utopianismTechnocratic cultureScience fictionHistoryHuman mind


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