Bernard Stiegler’s Technics and Time (a three-volume series from 1994 to 2001) is a profound exploration of technology (technics) and its relationship to human time, memory, and consciousness. His main thesis is that human existence is inextricably linked to technics, which shapes how we experience time, history, and subjectivity. Here are the key points across the volumes:
1. Volume 1: The Fault of Epimetheus (1994)
Key Ideas:
• Humanity is defined by technology: Stiegler builds on André Leroi-Gourhan’s idea that humans are not fully determined biologically; rather, they evolve through their tools and prosthetics (technics).
• Technics is the “original” condition of humanity: Unlike the traditional Western idea that technology is an extension of human will, Stiegler argues that technics is co-originary with humanity. There was never a “pure” human before technology.
• Myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus: Stiegler reinterprets this Greek myth to argue that humans are born incomplete, lacking natural instincts, and must rely on tools, memory, and external supports to survive.
• Technics as memory and prosthesis: The key concept here is tertiary retention—humans externalize memory into tools, writing, and media. These external supports (e.g., books, photographs, films) shape how we think and experience time.
2. Volume 2: Disorientation (1996)
Key Ideas:
• Technological evolution transforms perception and time: Stiegler expands Husserl’s phenomenology to argue that our experience of time is conditioned by the technologies that store and transmit memory (e.g., writing, cinema, digital media).
• Crisis of disorientation: As technology accelerates (especially mass media and digital archives), humans experience a loss of control over their own memory and temporality—a condition of existential disorientation.
• Technics and individuation: Following Gilbert Simondon, Stiegler argues that humans are formed through individuation, a process where we shape ourselves through interaction with technics. However, mass media and automation disrupt this process, leading to a crisis of subjectivity.
3. Volume 3: Cinematic Time and the Question of Malaise (2001)
Key Ideas:
• Cinema as a model of time-consciousness: Stiegler focuses on how cinema and mass media function as a “time machine”, shaping collective memory and experience.
• Industrialization of memory: With the rise of mass media (radio, TV, film), memory is no longer just personal or collective but is increasingly controlled by industries (Hollywood, news, advertising).
• Technological malaise: The acceleration of technological change produces passive consumers rather than active subjects, leading to a crisis in democracy, thought, and human autonomy.
• Resistance through critical technics: Instead of rejecting technology, Stiegler calls for a rethinking of technics—a way to reclaim control over memory, culture, and subjectivity.
Implications for the Present
• AI and automation: Stiegler’s work anticipates the current debate on AI, arguing that externalizing memory into algorithms risks making human thought obsolete.
• Digital attention crisis: The problem of disorientation is even more extreme today, with social media and digital capitalism fragmenting attention and individuation.
• Reclaiming technics: Stiegler proposes a rethinking of technological development, where humans must actively shape technics instead of being passively shaped by it.
Relation to Van Life and Your Interests
Your philosophy of van life intersects with Stiegler’s thought in several ways:
1. Escaping the technological malaise: Van life resists the acceleration and mass control of time by choosing a different rhythm of existence.
2. Reclaiming individuated experience: By living on the road, you redefine your relationship to technics, engaging with tools (vehicles, maps, writing) in a personal way rather than as passive consumers.
3. Resonance with the world: Similar to Hartmut Rosa’s resonance, Stiegler suggests that a better relationship with technology can restore a deeper engagement with time and existence.
Would you say that your engagement with van life is an attempt to reclaim time and memory from the acceleration of digital capitalism?