Technems: Their Power and Significance in Digital Interaction

Abstract

In the article, by analogy with the minimal semantic units “phonemes”, “mor­phemes”, “mythemes”, etc., the concept of “techneme” is introduced. Phoneme ac­centuates sound, morpheme – meaning, mytheme – image, techneme – interaction. According to evolutionary, epistemological and cognitive studies, the metaphor is closer to the “corporeal mind” than to the pure mind (abstract and opera­tional). According to anthropological, mythopoetic and media-philosophical studies, the first forms of mediation are born from the influence of the elements on the body. As part of the consideration of the triad “body-element-metaphor”, it is shown that “techneme” is something between a metaphor and an element – something that, on the one hand, metaphorizes the impact on the body, and on the other hand, embodies the metaphor. Based on the hypothesis that tech­nemes determine the bodily habituation of the elements and metaphors, three technemes are distinguished – forest, fabric, mirror, associated with the habita­tion of the environment, body, face. The graphical user interface is considered not as a way of abstract-operational interaction, but as a way to inhabit the ele­ment of numbers, which at the same time reveals the environment, determines body techniques, modes of representation and identification. Accordingly, to un­derstand the existence in digital, spontaneous manifestations of digital reality, it is necessary to take into account technemes, their strength and significance.