TECHNOLOGICAL CONSPIRACIES: COMTE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SPIRITUAL DESPOTISM

Lawrence Quill 

ABSTRACT:

 While there have been numerous critiques of the ideology of technology,it is useful to situate technology within both a liberal and a conspiratorial framework.The early work of Auguste Comte offers an ideal vehicle for this kind of analysis.Liberalism’s embrace of technology is developed in Comte to produce a theory of  scientific and technical elites intent on reinventing society and the individual. This “ technological conspiracy” reads very much like elements of a Silicon Valley manifesto describing the cyber-utopia of a near tomorrow. For these reasons Comte is relevant to a discussion of conspiracy today.