Mechanomorphism Explained

Mechanomorphism is the tendency of humans to see the machine-like behavior in other humans, animals, and other non-machine entities (like universe).[1] It is considered to be one face of the man-machine duality (the "human-as-machine" side), the other being anthropomorphism of an intelligent device, like a computer (thinking of the "machine-as-human"). When the reflection goes on in both directions, with real life using machine behavior that in turn imitates life, a term mechanthropomorphism is sometimes used, for example, to describe a ballet where human dancers are performing as machines that engage in a human-like behavior.

R. H. Waters proposed to use the term in behavioristic psychology in the 1948 as a label for "the ascription of mechanical characteristics to the [...] individual, and the interpretation of human behavior in terms of concepts and processes [...] of machines."

The use of the term to describe the mechanical metaphor of the neoclassical economics dates to K. H. M. Mittermaier (1986).

In the visual arts, the mechanomorphism was used by the adherents of machine aesthetic to define the complexity of human behaviors and social interactions through the mechanistic symbols (electric spark power, spinning wheel inertia, confined movements of a mechanical joint), as in the works of Marcel Duchamp or Francis Picabia.

In human-animal studies anthropomorphism and mechanomorphism sometimes are used in opposition to each other.

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Notes and References

  1. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mechanomorphism mechanomorphism

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