Technology and Topology: Rethinking the Space of Existence

For living things, being spatial means being in some place. Beyond mere geometric containment, this being in place reveals a relational and active spatiality that arises through one’s bodily interaction with an environment. However, for human beings this engagement occurs primarily through the medium of technology, broadly construed as the production and use of artifacts. Working at the intersection of philosophy of technology and phenomenology, my project accounts for this technologically mediated spatiality. In particular, I develop extant arguments that technology is best understood as an extension and externalization of our bodies and minds into the environment. I argue that this technological extendedness generates a topological spatiality that is a key feature of human existence. Put differently, I show that we are more than bodies in space; rather, we are spatial via our relation to technology.