Ivan Illich on the Shift Towards the A-Mortal Society

Contextual Quote

“A hammer,” he said, “doesn’t make me into part of the hammer,” but when it comes to computer systems, the user “by the logic of the system, becomes part of the system.”

As a consequence of this shift, Illich went on to argue, humanity was “moving … into what I would call an a-mortal society.” For one, the body, as apprehended through the computerized systems deployed by the medical profession, was no longer perceived as mortal in any absolute sense, but as a bundle of signals and values to be registered, manipulated, and adjusted. Death could be reimagined as something akin to a computer crash. This outlook elided the fact that man was fallen and destined for death. In this regard, said Illich, “thinking about the body as a system is a way of hiding sin.”

-Geoff Shullenberger [1]