In modernity, human power and agency became mythologized, replacing the premodern view in which humans were subordinate to divine wisdom and sought refuge in God against unknown forces. Modern humans, no longer willing to endure passively, placed themselves at the center of existence, assuming the mission of salvation through their own strength. This shift gave rise to humanism, yet the question remains: can human forces alone overcome the alien and unfamiliar? The answer becomes negative when we consider the presence of non-human forces.
Non-Human Forces in Modernity
These forces encompass nature and technology, but this discussion focuses on technological forces, which act upon and shape human agency. Human and technological forces have become entangled, forming a network of interdependencies. Modern humans no longer confront the unfamiliar alone; their integration with technology allows them to face strange and fearful situations in new ways.
Fear and the Unfamiliar
Fear is a psychosocial phenomenon, arising when the internal and external worlds collide in a way that feels threatening. As human relationships with the world change, so do the structures of fear. Fear is networked, embedded in historical and social systems, and used as a mechanism of control. It shapes human awareness, memory, and emotions, ensuring that familiarity creates security, while the unfamiliar generates anxiety.
Culture provides a shared umbrella of security, reducing fear by fostering recognition of the other. However, when unfamiliar situations arise, the cognitive and emotional structures built by historical experiences struggle to process them. The unfamiliar disrupts the nervous system, appearing as an existential threat. Yet, paradoxically, it also functions as a gateway to new historical conditions, pushing humanity toward transformation and learning.
Technology and Posthuman Entanglement
With the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Industrial Society, humans replaced divine perspective with scientific and technological mastery. Modern knowledge repositioned humanity as the central force in existence, yet scientific progress itself depended on non-human technological forces. These forces were not merely tools but agents that shaped human history. The modern world emerged not through human effort alone, but through the deep entanglement of human and non-human forces—a shift now recognized as posthumanism.
The Guillotine: A Symbol of Modern Power
The guillotine, a technological force, played a crucial role in shaping modern political and social order. During the French Revolution, it was both a tool of justice and a mechanism of terror, marking a critical moment in the modern state’s assertion of control over life and death. The guillotine did not simply execute criminals; it delineated between the familiar (loyal citizens) and the unfamiliar (traitors and outsiders). It symbolized the rationalization of violence, transforming execution into an efficient, calculated, and depersonalized act.
The scientific fascination with the guillotine extended beyond politics. Doctors and researchers, such as Giovanni Aldini, used decapitated heads for electro-experiments, attempting to reanimate human remains. This foreshadowed Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where science replaces God as the mediator between human and non-human forces. The guillotine thus became not just a tool of execution but an instrument of knowledge production, linking science, violence, and the governance of life.
Modernity’s Cycle of Fear and Control
Modernity continuously reproduces fear through its obsession with progress, control, and the elimination of the unfamiliar. The modern world defines itself by its ability to distinguish between the civilized and the barbaric, often based on technological consumption. The spread of Western modernity was facilitated by technological superiority, allowing European powers to colonize “strange lands” and enforce a hierarchy of knowledge and civilization.
In this paradigm, familiarity is cultivated through consumption—from soap advertisements racializing hygiene to military technology ensuring dominance. Weapons, maps, and steam power allowed modern European forces to conquer the unfamiliar. The guillotine, in this sense, was not an anomaly but a manifestation of modernity’s fundamental logic: the rationalized destruction of the unfamiliar.
Conclusion: The Paradox of Progress and Fear
Modernity promises rationality, justice, and human advancement, yet it is built upon systems of fear, violence, and exclusion. The entanglement of human and non-human forces has created both progress and oppression, security and terror. The guillotine exemplifies this contradiction—a symbol of justice mechanized into terror, rationality turned into execution, and knowledge entwined with death. The modern project is thus a continuous struggle between familiarity and the ever-emerging unfamiliar, between security and the terror it necessitates.
Hamed Taheri Kia
For the full text, refer to the book “Entertainment in Publi Project.”
