Review of Mark Coeckelbergh (2019): Moved by Machines: Performance Metaphors and Philosophy of Technology

In Mark Coeckelbergh’s recent book, Moved by Machines: Performance Metaphors and Philosophy of Technology (2019), a number of performance metaphors are used to delve deeply into understanding human-technology relations beyond an artefact-based approach often used in philosophy of technology. This is in order to ‘understand and evaluate what we do with technology and what technology does with us’ (Coeckelbergh 2019: 1). In each chapter a different metaphor is investigated, moving from dance, theatre, music, stage magic, and finally to thinking itself. The metaphors are used to reveal ‘more ways in which technology contributes to the creation of meaning and indeed more meanings of technology itself' (76). This book is an important read for anyone interested in philosophy of technology, especially through the lens of a performative turn.