Technocratic Alienation

One of the glories of the Metaphysical poets was the association of their sensibilities. Eliot lamented a dissociation that he detected occurring after their reign in the literary world in the 17th century. This disassociation can perhaps be explained by the division between the rational and mathematical side of our nature from the rest of it - the aesthetic, the emotional, the ethical - caused by Descartes. All of the latter were in some sense demoted by the prioritisation of reason and even Maths as the sole detector and mediator of truth on which reliable knowledge could be founded (it is interesting that this heralded the period of philosophical alienation where we were dislocated from the physical, ‘noumenal’ world unable to prove that it exists). A dislocation was created in our nature between the human and the scientific side which alienated us from ourselves. We still still see this dislocation in our relationship with technology which can often demote or reduce the human in an insulting way. “The computer says no." Winston Churchill said we want scientists on tap not on top. He was Boris Johnson's hero but, in spite of this, Boris abdicated his over-arching humanity and wider vision than the purely scientific one in favour of the rule of scientists during the pandemic.

Eduardo Paolozzi’s take on Blake’s ‘Newton’ outside the Scottish National Gallery