Technology and the Sublime

The issue explores the intricate passage from the natural sublime to the technological sublime as well as their coexistence, suggesting ways to interpret the multiple and diffused relations between humanity, nature, and technology. In this framework, the focus is not only on sublime experiences when they occur in the presence of grandiose, impressive technological objects. Rather, the issue seeks to unveil practices of exploring and mastering nature that, at the same time, could be the vehicle for sublime experiences. For example, the tremor of the Earth provoked by the launch of a rocket, or the sense of uncertainty and probability inspired by computers, with their power of turning the universe into collections of elements combinable ad infinitum, give rise to sublime emotions that blend together fear and attraction, concern and satisfaction, danger and magnificence.