Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale

Rivista | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Fascicolo monografico | 53 | Supplemento | 2019
Articolo | 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

Presentato: 21 Marzo 2019 | Accettato: 27 Maggio 2019 | Pubblicato 27 Novembre 2019 | Lingua: it

Keywords HistoryTechnological utopianismScience fictionTechnocratic cultureHuman mind


Leggi questo articolo