Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Series | Book | Chapter

205838

Fukushima

a tsunami of technological order

José Luis GarciaHelena Mateus Jerónimo

pp. 129-144

Abstract

Reflecting on the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, in Le Bluff technologique (1988: 109), Jacques Ellul reflected on the paradox of increased unpredictability linked to technological power defined in terms of efficiency. Modern technological progress brings with it the desire to control nature and tame chance by means of calculating rationality that reduces contingencies, yet contemporary technological society has increasingly been confronted with incalculable complexities and become vulnerable to unexpected threats. Far from disappearing, as modernity claimed, unpredictability has become endemic as a result of the prodigious multiplication and power of our means of action.

Publication details

Published in:

Mateus Jerónimo Helena, Garcia José Luis, Mitcham Carl (2013) Jacques Ellul and the technological society in the 21st century. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 129-144

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-6658-7_10

Full citation:

Garcia José Luis, Mateus Jerónimo Helena (2013) „Fukushima: a tsunami of technological order“, In: H. Mateus Jerónimo, J.L. Garcia & C. Mitcham (eds.), Jacques Ellul and the technological society in the 21st century, Dordrecht, Springer, 129–144.