// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did techno-animism say to the robot? You're charged with spirit.
Techno-animism or technoanimism is a term used in several scholarly contexts for relations between technology and animacy, agency, or spiritual qualities. In studies of Japanese popular culture and robotics, it has described both an aesthetic in which machines and commodities are treated as animate and a discourse that connects attitudes toward robots with animism or Shinto.[1][2] The claim that these relations express a stable or uniquely Japanese cultural tradition is disputed; critics instead analyze techno-animism through consumer capitalism, robotics design, nation branding, and situated human–technology interaction.[3][4]
While this term is nowadays seen often in relation to Japanese studies, R. George Kirkpatrick and Diana Tumminia first used it in a 1992 study of Unarius, an American UFO religion.[5] In 2001, Okuno Takuji applied the Japanese rendering tekuno animizumu to contemporary robots.[4] That year, Dutch sociologist Stef Aupers used technoanimists for computer specialists who treated digital technology as an intelligent and autonomous force.[6] Later work has also applied techno-animism to DIY and maker practices.[7]
Background and history
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The practice of instilling human and spiritual characteristics into physical objects has always been part of the Shinto religion.[8] Deities in the Shinto religion often symbolize objects of the physical world and their statues often take human forms. With these practices, people form tighter bonds with physical objects. In Japanese culture, the interaction between humans and non-human objects is critical to the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature.[9] A prime example of this type of interaction is that before meals, Japanese people always say "itadakimasu" which expresses gratitude for the ingredients of the meal may it be animals or plants.
Techno-animism builds upon the practices of the Shinto religion by instilling human and spiritual characteristics into technology. As for representation, techno-animism is often embodied in the engineering design of objects and the way that people interact with those objects. In a larger social context, Techno-animism provides a means for technology to be integrated into the human society because new technology can always be instilled with traditional values.[10]
Examples of Techno-animism also exist within the context of the DIY ethic and Maker culture: linking contemporary theories of material agency and Material culture[11] with post-modern ideas of Animism and ethnographies "[12] with recent academic studies suggesting that a form of Techno-animism can be observed in the highly developed practices of material engagement present in certain Do it yourself sub-cultures [7] recorded in contemporary ethnographic studies of technology.[13]
Critiques and relational approaches
[edit]Okuno Takuji's tekuno animizumu formulation was extended from Japan to East Asia more broadly. This was criticized as techno-Orientalist because it treated animism as an enduring regional disposition.[4] Techno-animism in Japan has also been explained as a continuity between Shinto cosmologies and technological culture. In Jensen-Blok's account, Shinto cosmograms and actor–network theory offer comparable ways of describing non-human agency.[2] This comparison risks treating diverse human–technology relations as expressions of a generalized Japanese belief in animism. It also locates animation in cultural belief rather than in the practices that produce relations with particular things.[3][3][14]
Examples
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The design of certain objects can have human-related traits that illustrate techno-animism. A robot designed by Honda called ASIMO takes the form of an astronaut wearing a spacesuit. The form factor along with the spiritual values associated with space exploration makes ASIMO an embodiment of techno-animism. In addition, ASIMO can also communicate with humans through language and gestures. Communication is a defining factor of determining whether something is an individual being or not.[15] In Japan, the robot industry offers a wide range of functions from talking robots to sex robots. Conversation and sexual relationships used to be concepts that only belonged to humans. However, technological advancements and techno-animism are breaking down that barrier with engineering designs that embody human and spiritual characteristics.
Beyond the design of objects, the way that people choose to interact with objects could also demonstrate techno-animism. In Shinjuku, Tokyo, a restaurant has robots for waiters instead of humans. Rather than talking to another person, customers interact with machines during their meals. In this process, customers accept the fact that technology has become part of the human society and has a unique way of interacting with humans.[10]
Social implications
[edit]Japanese culture and legislation are generally supportive of the techno-animism trend. Considering that Japan's modernization took place during a relatively short period compared to western nations, techno-animism is seen as a major reason why Japan has been a leader in technological innovations.[16] As a result, acceptance of techno-animism is the current attitude in Japan, both culturally and legislatively.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Allison, Anne (2006). Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 12–13, 21. ISBN 978-0-520-24565-5.
- 1 2 Jensen, Casper Bruun; Blok, Anders (2013). "Techno-animism in Japan: Shinto Cosmograms, Actor-network Theory, and the Enabling Powers of Non-human Agencies". Theory, Culture & Society. 30 (2): 84–115. doi:10.1177/0263276412456564. S2CID 144227262.
- 1 2 3 Gygi, Fabio R. (2018). "Robot Companions: The Animation of Technology and the Technology of Animation in Japan". Rethinking Relations and Animism: Personhood and Materiality. Routledge. pp. 94–111. doi:10.4324/9780203709887.
- 1 2 3 Katsuno, Hirofumi; White, Daniel (2023). "Engineering Robots with Heart in Japan: The Politics of Cultural Difference in Artificial Emotional Intelligence". Imagining AI: How the World Sees Intelligent Machines. Oxford University Press. pp. 295–317. doi:10.1093/oso/9780192865366.003.0019.
- ↑ Ogihara-Schuck, Eriko (2014). Miyazaki's Animism Abroad: The Reception of Japanese Religious Themes by American and German Audiences. McFarland. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-7864-7262-8.
- ↑ Aupers, Stef (1 October 2001). "De wraak van de machines over moderniteit, technologie en animisme". Amsterdams Sociologisch Tijdschrift (in Dutch). 28 (3): 292–320. ISSN 0921-4933. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
- 1 2 Snake-Beings, Emit (2018). "Maker culture and DIY technologies: re-functioning as a techno-animist practice". Continuum. 32 (2): 121–136. doi:10.1080/10304312.2017.1318825.
- ↑ Imanishi, Kinji; 今西, 錦司 (5 November 2013). A Japanese view of nature : the world of living things. Asquith, Pamela J., 1951-. London. ISBN 9781136131141. OCLC 862745839.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ R., Clammer, J. (2011). Difference and modernity : social theory and contemporary Japanese society. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780203841365. OCLC 704272999.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - 1 2 Tsurumi, K. (1992) Animism and Science. Research Papers series A-58, Institute of International Relations, Sophia University, Tokyo.
- ↑ Emit Snake-Beings 2016. The DiY ['Do it yourself'] Ethos: A participatory culture of material engagement. Doctoral Thesis. "https://hdl.handle.net/10289/9973"
- ↑ Bird-David, Nurit (1999). ""Animism" Revisited: Personhood, Environment, and Relational Epistemology". Current Anthropology. 40 (S1): S68. doi:10.1086/200061. S2CID 18669035.
- ↑ Emit Snake-Beings 2018. Animism and Artefact: The entangled Agencies of a DIY [Do-It-Yourself] Maker. Visual Ethnography, Vol. 7, N. 2, University of Basilicata, Italy "https://www.snakebeings.co.nz/texts/2018%20artefact%20and%20animism.pdf Archived 2019-12-22 at the Wayback Machine"
- ↑ Tamura, Xyh (2025). "From Interiority to Interaction: Reframing Personhood, Communication, and Affect with Artificial Interaction Partners through Japanese Cultures". P&D - Philosophy & Digitality. 2 (1): 33–47. doi:10.18716/pd.v2i1.11659. ISSN 2940-8466.
- ↑ Kaplan, F. (2004) ‘Who is afraid of the humanoid? Investigating cultural differences in the acceptance of robots’, International Journal of Humanoid Robotics. 1(3): 1–16.
- ↑ Henny, Sue; Lehmann, Jean-Pierre (8 May 2014). Themes and theories in modern Japanese history : essays in memory of Richard Storry. London. ISBN 9781780939698. OCLC 868914617.
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