5. Technique

“...every moral imperative is abandoned in return for mastery of the techniques...”

Apart from its ready association with the idea of trickery and magic, the specific use of the word ‘techniques’ in this context (as opposed to more predictable choices such as ‘tools’ or ‘instruments’) is intended to reflect the view expressed by the philosopher Martin Heidegger and others that modern technology as we know it is not something which is under our control, but rather it is the product of a prior technical ‘modality’ (technique itself) that has entered into and occupied the active core of our innate capacity for authentic knowledge and perception of ourselves and the universe. Therefore, the expected relationship is reversed, in that instead of mankind gaining mastery over technology, it is technique that holds complete sway over us and hence over the entire earth by means of us.