In-depth · Technology and traditions
The Gift and the Calculation
The great traditions before the promises of techno-capitalism
"Calculation always returns what is owed. The gift always gives more than is owed. They are not, and never will be, the same hand."
Received - chosen - given
From the book «Beyond Turing - The Incalculable Remainder»
Inside the article
The three knots
The four promises
Calculation offering itself as salvation
Digital immortality, artificial companionship, algorithmic meaning, synthetic happiness: four promises for the four most ancient anxieties.
The Thou that is not there
Artificial companionship
Man becomes I in the Thou, and the synthetic companion offers the exact opposite: a Thou without an interior, risking nothing, asking nothing.
The grammar of the gift
What cannot be bought
Calculation optimizes, the gift overflows: the exact grammar no system will ever be able to invoice.
