Automatizations in the inorganic: approaches to the social study of artificial creatures

Abstract

This article offers an introduction to the world of the artificial creature as automatous object, both symbolic and material, real and imaginary. Starting out from the paradox contained in its mimicry of the principles of life, the article examines analytical moves towards and away from the concepts of man-machine-animal and organic-inorganic. It seeks a fuller understanding of how people engage technologically with the automaton's existential processes.