A discussion of Dr Caroline Ashcroft’s forthcoming book: Catastrophic Technology in Cold War Political Thought (Edinburgh University Press).

Catastrophic Technology explores a critical idea of technology shared by many influential political thinkers of the Cold War era. This critique posits technology as a central but profoundly dangerous and even catastrophic force in contemporary politics and society. In the work of theorists including Theodor Adorno, Günther Anders, Hannah Arendt, Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger, Max Horkheimer, Hans Jonas, Herbert Marcuse, and Lewis Mumford, a form of technology particular to modernity appears as a transformational and exceptionally problematic influence on the contemporary world. This book asks the question of what this particular concept of technology means for these philosophers in political terms, arguing that their conceptualisation of technology is a mode of radical political critique. It was also, however, a sophisticated and developed theory of technology and its influence on politics and society. This book shows how this critique of technology was an important and substantive theme in political thought during the Cold War; one which brought together unlikely allies from across the ideological spectrum, and which has not been widely recognised as such in intellectual histories of the era to date.

All are welcome, but registration for this event is essential. Registered attendees will receive a copy of the draft manuscript by email prior to the event. Please register here.