Research Article
Utopia, determinismo tecnologico, ingegneria sociale: la dianetica tra scienza e fantascienza
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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.
Keywords: Science fiction. Technological utopianism. Human mind. Technocratic culture. History.
Language: it
Submitted: March 21, 2019permalink: http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2019/01/031
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