[de]familiarization, the Role of Our Hands in a Technological World

Abstract

The hand has suffered ever-greater segregation from the world of objects, and we can foresee its total withdrawal, in the future that we believe is not so far away. It is imperative, more than ever, to crystallize the use of the hand in history, remembering that it played a fundamental role not only in the formation of man’s culture but also, in its evolution as the dominant species in the world and the environment. The route from the ancient world to the modern world and the implications that the hand suffered from this are intrinsic related to the passage from the craft to work. The work will put the hand in a numb state that coincides with the decline in its use. The hand is no longer a prime asset in the production of objects, becoming the operator of the machine that produces them. Using the literature review of authors who dedicated themselves to problematizing surrounding ideas, we wish to address this theme, to think about the future, by acknowledging the past. The production lines are like the arms of thousands of artisans, who instead of working with the material, operate the machine that imitates their work. However, this reversal of roles, triggered by the development of modern societies, does not dilapidate the significance of its design. The knowledge remained unchanged, even with the production of the machine replacing the production of the hand. The hand is still in possession, like an orchestra conductor, the leading role of designing the objects, for the machine to replicate. The machine, if we want to synthesize it, is only mimetic of human physical effort. In art, what we understand as the fringe of man’s thinking about his future, the machine has not had a place until the dawn of the past century. Man’s thoughts have always been guided by the action of his hands. Today, with technology, in a feverish and fast-moving world, the hand that guides man's thought became obsolete. In that tone, we recall the words of J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) – Does the future have a future? we would like to say yes, but we need to figure out how to address the role of our hands in a technological world.