The Machine Under the Full Moon

What does the myth of the werewolf teach us about our relationships with machines?

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Our intelligence and desire to survive and prosper have driven us to organize ourselves according to systems that prioritize safety and productivity, requiring us to distance ourselves from the unpredictability of animal nature. In other words, we’ve built societies that encourage the machinic qualities of human nature, while suppressing the animalistic ones. This is the ideology behind the werewolf: a tale that’s supposed to teach us that it’s dangerous not to suppress our wilderness.

Wolf-man and man-machine: two dualities in which a wild side seems to drag down a comparatively more functional side. Analyzing these two manifestations of the desire to tame human nature, this text reflects on the place of wilderness within digital technologies.