Technology and Language

1 : 1 (2020) Introductions – 22 programmatic essays on Technology and Language

To set the stage and indicate the scope of possible topics, the first issue features not a handful of research papers but 23 short essays from philosophy, cultural studies/STS, history and theory of art, philosophy of technology, mechanical engineering and forensics research, sociolinguistics – from China, Russia, Europe, and the US. See below for table of contents.

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2 : 1 (2021) In the Beginning was the Word: The Word as Technical Artefact – 8 papers plus one contributed paper

The word is a technical object in a variety of ways, most famously perhaps as the „redeeming word“ known from fairy-tales, transformative spells, and magical thinking. Its current incarnation is the password or encryption key which opens doors to secret places and new worlds. Another prominent field of inquiry is naming as a technological activity especially where this involves formal ontologies, but also in the design process and the creation of new machine/user interfaces. – See below for table of contents. Daria Bylieva and Alfred Nordmann, editors.

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2 : 2 (2021) Forensic Examinations: Terms and Techniques – 8 papers plus four contributed papers

Forensic Examinations – not from the point of view of semiotics, the philosophy of signs and traces but by way of forensics scientists who seek to consider philosophical dimensions of “technology and language” in their empirical research. Forensics involves the reading and interpretation of traces, and many early success-stories of forensic expertise concern the identification of forgeries. In today‘s forensic science, procedures and protocols establish the terms of technical practice.- See below for table of contents. Dmitryi Mokhorov and Anna Mokhorov, guest editors.

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2 : 3 (2021) Technology and the Media Environment of the Information Society – 10 papers plus one contributed paper

Social networks and communication systems, new modes of reading and writing, the hybridization of symbolic codes stand for the disruptive effects of digital and cyber-technologies on practices of communication and expression not only on the internet but also in traditional media. Topics include 1) nudging, disinformation, and technologies for the manipulation of behavior and consciousness in digital environments, 2) the digital language of intelligent environments, 3) information technologies in social engineering environments and technocracies. – See below for table of contents. Olga Shipunova, guest editor.

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2 : 4 (2021) Technology as Language: Understanding Action in a Technical Condition – 7 papers plus four contributed papers

The philosophy of technology and language meets theories of action. Actions are understood in reference to reasons and causes which are formed in a social setting. The hermeneutics of action takes on a further dimension, however, when technical agency and technological activity are brought into play. Technology provides hermeneutic access and affords understanding for example of biocitizenship through genetic technology and language. Discussions include the grammar of behavior, Günther Anders' conception of promethean shame, and our understanding of language for human and machine neural networks. – See below for table of contents. Alexander Nesterov and Anna Denima, guest editors.

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3 : 1 (2022) The Construction of the Robot in Language and Culture – 14 papers

“Robot” – on the history of a term that was introduced a little over 100 years ago by Czech author Karel Capek. Several papers analyze the pre-history and reception of a word that was simply translated as "worker" in Soviet Russia but became a new kind of thing, namely a "robot" in many other languages. Two interviews with Japanese robotics engineer Hiroshi Ishiguro and with German philosopher Markus Gabriel follow up on a previous encounter of theirs. Mark Coeckelbergh's 2011 paper "You, robot: on the linguistic construction of artificial others” prompted six responses and a reply to his critics by Mark Coeckelbergh. – See below for table of contents. CHENG Lin, guest editor.

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3 : 2 (2022) Instructions – 8 papers plus two contributed papers

Do technical processes unfold as instructed in that they execute a program or in that their parts perform prescribed motions? Inversely, do technologies instruct the behavior of users in that they establish a script which users need to follow if they want to reap the benefits of technology? And what is instruction in the first place? Papers consider the distinction between program and code in software engineering as well as a Wittgensteinian distinction of “instructing in” an “instructing to.” There are close observations of YouTube instructional videos, of different notations for recording theatre and dance, of Bruno Latour’s visualization practice, and of linguistic practices in regard to instruction. The collection is rounded off by an analysis of robotic grasping and the challenge to instruct the machine to employ tacit knowledge. – See below for table of contents. Jens Geisse and Marcel Siegler, guest editors.

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3 : 3 (2022) Technologies in a Multilingual World – 8 papers plus one contributed paper

Technological creativity has been described as active adaptation to the world. What if this world is a multilingual world – an environment in which we are surrounded by a multiplicity of languages and codes, more than anyone can produce or understand but which have to be navigated nonetheless? Aside from all the „natural languages“ such as the many variants of spoken, written, or signed English and all the pidgins and local dialects, these include the language of the ticketing-machine as well as the language of powerpoint, the language of traffic signs as well as technologically enhanced communication means known as augmentative and alternative communication. – See below for table of contents. Daria Bylieva and Alfred Nordmann, editors,

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3 : 4 (2022) Mimesis and Composition – 11 papers

Mimetic protocols of repetition and reproduction are linked to the inexhaustible multiplicity of compositional patterns in all domains of human activity. There are two thematic poles investigated by the different contributions: science and technology on the one hand, and on the other hand enchantment and magic. These two domains, for a long time opposed, appear as different imitative ways of composing the world within a horizon of meaning. In this perspective, phenomena such as play or experiences such as sound or smell, take on a driving theoretical role. Viewed as a whole, they constitute the lemmata of a new and more comprehensive fundamental anthropology. – See below for table of contents. This collection of papers is associated with the Padova Summer School on Philosophy and Cultural Studies of Technology. Natascha Adamowsky and Fabio Grigenti, guest editors,

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„Technology and Language“ is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal, published at Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University. It provides philosophical, cultural, historical perspectives on the manifold relations of technology and language.

The journal promotes new ways of thinking about technology and about language. It is theoretically innovative by considering technology in terms of syntax and semantics and principles of composition, and by considering language in its dependence on techniques and technologies. These theoretical considerations will be informed by a broad range of interdisciplinary empirical investigations of the many relations of technology and language in our contemporary world – addressing the fields of history, linguistics, cultural studies, philosophy, anthropology, literary and media studies. Therefore, the purpose of the journal is also to bring together an international community of researchers who explore the interfaces of technology and language.

Daria Bylieva and Alfred Nordmann are editors for scientific content, cover-designs by Maureen Belaski.

Table of Contents

  • Mimesis and Composition: Introduction
    • Adamowsky, N. and Grigenti, F.
  • Productive Indeterminacy: On the Relationship between Play and Science
    • Adamowsky, N.
  • On the Mythical Atmosphere of the Digital World
    • Milani, B.
  • The Pledge, the Turn, the Prestige: The Border Between Magic and Technology as Practices
    • Monaro, F.
  • Enchanting Narratives: A Historical Ethnography of Contemplative Science
    • Smolka, M.
  • Father Christmas: Magic and Technology
    • Bylieva, D. and Zamorev, A.
  • Language in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
    • Thomas, S.
  • Magic Materialism: From Atmospheric Technologies to Architectures of Affect
    • Oznobikhina, I.
  • The Composition of Saint Petersburg Scents: Smellwalks for Urban Exploration
    • Redko, E. and Bogatyrenko, M.
  • Philosophy of Biorobotics: Translating and Composing Bio-hybrid Forms
    • Tamborini, M.
  • Composing and Combining: Opposing Constructive Principles?
    • Schwarz, A.
  • Knowing and Controlling the World through Gardenworks and Biorobots: Discussion of Tamborini and Schwarz
    • Nordmann, A., Schwarz, A., and Tamborini, M.

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Table of Contents

  • Technologies in a Multilingual World: Editorial Introduction
    • Believa, D. and Nordmann, A..
  • Two Perspectives on the Multilingual Condition – Linguistics meets Philosophy of Technology
    • Hufeisen, B., Nordmann, A., and Liu, A.W.-K.
  • The Cat’s Meow – Feline Translations
    • Skripchenko R. and Burlakov I.
  • Everyday Problems of International Students in the Russian Language Environment
    • Lobatyuk, V. and Nam, T.
  • Industrial Music, Noise, and the Sound of Machines
    • Trofimov V., Levchuk M. and Sergeeva K.
  • On the Non-Universality in Mathematical Language
    • Krasnoshchekov V. and Semenova N..
  • The Stages of Developing a Discourse-Oriented Virtual Learning Environment Model
    • Balyshev P.
  • Convergence of Foreign Language and Engineering Education: Opportunities for Development
    • Krylov E. and Vasileva P.
  • Consensus without Consent
    • Tan, A..

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Table of Contents

  • Instructing Technology, Technological Instruction: Editorial Introduction
    • Geisse J. and Siegler M..
  • Instructing to and Instructing in: Two Paradigms of Instruction
    • Radjenovic D.
  • Instructing Tacit Knowledge: Epistemologies of Sensory-Based Robotic Systems
    • Wuzella, R..
  • Do it Yourself at YouTube
    • Grom Y. and Bytsan S.
  • Explicit and Implicit Components of Social and Technical Instructions
    • Belyaeva, I.G..
  • Program and Code
    • Hähnle, R..
  • Staging Notations
    • Vyrypanov, D.
  • Visualizing the Composition: A Method for Mapping Inscription and Instruction
    • Zhu, Y..
  • The Grammars of AI: Towards a Structuralist and Transcendental Hermeneutics of Digital Technologies
    • Coeckelbergh, M..
  • Global-local Cultural Interactions in a Hyperconnected World
    • Saltanovich I.

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Table of Contents

  • The Construction of the Robot in Language and Culture, “Intercultural Robotics” and the “Third Robot Culture”
    • Cheng L.
  • The Intellectual Turn and Cultural Transfer of “Humanoid Automata” from the Ancient World to the Enlightenment Era
    • Wu S.
  • Robot vs Worker
    • Romanenko T.Shcherbinina P.
  • The Body, the Soul, the Robot: 21st-Century Monism
    • Liggieri K.Tamborini M.
  • The Blurring of the Boundaries between Humans and Robots is a Good Thing and a New Species would be Born: An Interview with Hiroshi Ishiguro
    • Jiang H.Cheng L.Ishiguro H.
  • Diverse Cultures, Universal Capacity: An Interview with Markus Gabriel
    • Li Y.Gabriel M.
  • You, Robot: on the Linguistic Construction of Artificial Others
    • Coeckelbergh M.
  • The Quasi-Other as a Sobject
    • Ullmann L.
  • Quipping Equipment: Apropos of Robots and Kantian Chatbots
    • Xylander C. von
  • On Talkwithability. Communicative Affordances and Robotic Deception
    • Pezzica L.
  • Language of AI
    • Bylieva D.
  • Language and Robots: from Relations to Processes of Relations
    • Hasse C.
  • Affirming and Denying the Hybrid Character of Robots: Literary Investigations
    • Li Y.
  • Response: Language and robots
    • Coeckelbergh M.

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Table of Contents

  • Technology and Understanding
    • Nesterov A.; Demina A. I.
  • The Grammar of Behavior as a Theoretical Notion
    • Serikov A. E.
  • Promethean Shame as the Hidden Instrumentum Redemptionis Humanae
    • Ursitti F.
  • Biotechnological Agencies in our Information Society: The Emergence of Biocitizenship and Genetic Language
    • Lombard J.
  • Virtual Communication Technologies in Modern Drama for Teenagers
    • Tyutelova; L.Sergeeva; E.Sundukova K.
  • The Concept, Types and Rules of the Use of Technical Means in Criminal Proceedings
    • Ivanov V;. V.Tsoi V. A.
  • Teaching English as a Language for Mechanical Engineering
    • Krylov E.; Khalyapina L.; Nordmann A.
  • Technology and Language in Tattoos
    • Ozerova D.; Serikov A.
  • Politics of Usernames
    • Hess M.
  • Dialog, Communication, Cooperation, and Collaboration: Facets of Human-Computer Interaction
    • Belyaeva I. G.

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Table of Contents

  • Technologies and Media Environment of Information Society
    • Olga Shipunova
  • Future Marketing as Technology for Manipulating Symbolic Consumption
    • Pletnev A.V.
  • Technology for Professional Image Construction of a Medical Worker: COVID-19 Media Discourse
    • Yefanov A.; Banshchikova V.
  • Political Media Discourse in China as a Subject of Applied Analysis
    • Lobanova T; .Xu J.
  • Non-Verbal Marketing Research Techniques in Education
    • Ababkova M.Yu.
  • Messengers and Chats – Technologies of Learning
    • Bylieva D.; Laurent Moccozet
  • Enhancing the Assimilation of Foreign Language Vocabulary when Working with Students of the Digital Generation
    • Zorina E.V.; Chirkova E.I.; Chernovets E.G.
  • Technology for the Manipulation of Behavior
    • Ryabukhina V.
  • Emojis as a Language of their Own
    • Agranovskiy D.; Avilova A.
  • Technologies of Strategic Communications in the Practice of Public Administration
    • Shilova N.N.; Bragina E.N.
  • Geofuturology of Technology
    • Isaev B.A.; Ignatyeva I.F.

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Table of Contents

  • Sign Systems and Technologies in Forensic Science
    • Mokhorov D.; Mokhorov A.
  • Forensic Studies of Trace Evidence Altered by Fire
    • Latyshov I.V.; Pakhomov M.E.; Anosova N.E.
  • Laser Method of Micro-Composite Materials Synthesis for New Sensor Platforms of an “Electronic Tongue”
    • Kochemirovskaya S.V.; Kochemirovsky V.A.
  • The Language of Technical Examinations and Forensic Science
    • Isaev A.V.
  • The Automated Expert Workplace as a Tool for Technological Support for Forensic Expert Activities
    • Latyshov I.V.
  • Portrait Expertise
    • Khairusov D.S.
  • Digital Photography of Crime Scenes in the Production in Forensic Examinations
    • Telyatitskaya T.V.
  • Modeling Methods in Forensic Engineering and Technical Expertise: Artificial Languages of Modeling in Forensics
    • Menshikov P.V.
  • Natural Language as a Technological Tool
    • Aurora S.
  • First and Last Things: The Signatures of Visualization-Artists
    • Nordmann A.
  • Psychological Features of the Regulative Mechanisms Emerging in Digital Space
    • Pokrovskaia N.N.; Tyulin A.T.
  • Plurilingual School and University Curricula
    • Schlabach J.; Hufeisen B.

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Table of Contents

  • In the Beginning was the Word
    • Nordmann A.; Bylieva D.
  • Calculating with Words: Perspectives from Philosophy of Media, Philosophy of Science, Linguistics and Cultural History
    • Ramming U.
  • Decaying Words: The Metaphor of Evolution in Language Becomes Literal in a Canadian Forest
    • Wilson J.
  • Claiming Infinity: Tokens and spells in the foundations of the Moscow Mathematical School
    • Trimble W.
  • Infinity: Divine Paradigm
    • Christiansen Ch.
  • Utopian Grammars of Human-Machine Interaction
    • Coenen C.; Kazakova A.
  • A word at the limit
    • Kazarina T.
  • Non-linguistic systems as a way to make a password secure but memorable
    • Vorotnikova V.; Karlin S.
  • The Technical Transformation of the Literary Epigraph
    • Belyaeva I. G.
  • ‘A Few Words of Welcome’
    • Froy T.

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Table of Contents

  • Scientific Language – A Comparative Analysis of English, German and Russian
    • Altenbach H.
  • Multilingualism in the Age of Technology
    • Aronin L.
  • Connecting the World and the Word: The Hard and the Soft in Michel Serres’s philosophy
    • Bensaude-Vincent B.
  • The Language of Human-Machine Communication
    • Bylieva D.
  • When Machines Talk: A Brief Analysis of Some Relations between Technology and Language
    • Coeckelbergh M.
  • Language of Art as Language of Utopia
    • Ershova N.
  • Language and Hermeneutics
    • Ihde D.
  • Back to the Future with Writing and Speech
    • Ingold T.
  • Cybernetics for the Blind: The Reading Machine “Luch” (The Ray)
    • Kotomina А.
  • The Political Power of the Algorithm
    • Kramsch С.
  • Engineering Education – Сonvergence of Technology and Language
    • Krylov E.
  • On the Question concerning Animatechnics
    • Kuchinov E.
  • The Uprising of the Chinese Language in a Technological Age
    • Liu Y.
  • Philology and Technology: Notes
    • Mitcham C.
  • Language of criminalistic research as a basis for studying criminal legal phenomena
    • Mokhorov D.; Fedyukovsky А.
  • Technology as Semiosis
    • Nesterov A.
  • Non-Technological Narratives about Technology in Russian Science Fiction
    • Nikiforova N.
  • The Grammar of Things
    • Nordmann A.
  • Technology as a new Language of Communication between the Human Being and the World
    • Pavlenko A.
  • Good Engineering Design – Design Evolution by Languages
    • Pelz P.F.
  • The Techniques of the Arts
    • Wickert H.
  • Quantum Hermeneutics and Its Essential Questions
    • Wu G.
  • A(l)gora: The Mindscape
    • Xylander C. von

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