Abstract
The Shadows of Innovation and the Techné Mindset
This essay interrogates the systemic forces that marginalize intellectual innovation and foster a culture of scholarly silence. Through the lens of the Dynamic of Cognition (DoC), it argues that powerful forces—specifically the “techné mindset” and bureaucratic strategic action—consign independent innovators to the “shadows” to preserve institutional hierarchies [see bibliography: 38, 284]. The Sociology of Education is identified as a struggling field, weakened by a shift toward technocratic vocationalism and “job-ready” metrics that erase the “Evaluative-Willing Being” [109, 265]. We further analyse how hyper-competition, fuelled by technical determinism, transforms the university into a “meaningless checkerboard of parts,” where the absence of honest dialogue among scholars facilitates a state of “Historical Forgetfulness” [162, 285]. Finally, the essay addresses the Australian cultural context, where the “Tall Poppy Syndrome” and the myth of the “Lucky Country” create a specific “cultural version” of intellectual stagnation, inhibiting the transition to a Contributory Economy [82, 173].
https://www.academia.edu/165989630/The_Shadows_of_Innovation_and_the_Techn%C3%A9_Mindset
Abstract
The Immense Regression Denoetization and the Crisis of Social Harm
Social harm in the contemporary era is defined as an “immense regression” characterized by the systemic liquidation of human judgment, a state known as denoetization. This regression is rooted in the technicisation of cognition, where digital algorithms and bureaucratic imperatives replace rational-critical dialogue with automated behavioural control. Individuals suffer the loss of human authorship, becoming “puny human nodes” within vast technical networks that prioritize measurable utility over wisdom. The most profound social harm occurs through the dismantling of diverse and excelling scholarship, as this destruction severs the “long circuits” of individuation necessary for society to learn from past errors. Reversing this harm requires a “reflective ascent” through panser (thinking as caring) and the rigorous application of “crap detecting” to restore the integrity of the historical person.
https://www.academia.edu/165992450/The_Immense_Regression_Denoetization_and_the_Crisis_of_Social_Harm
Abstract
The Wickedness of Human Resources
“Human resources” today represents a structural manifestation of the “immense regression” and “denoetization,” where the human “who” is systematically liquidated into a technical and quantifiable “what”. This essay examines how modern HR practices, rooted in computational capitalism and the “techné mindset,” reduce individuals to “puny human nodes” or data sets designed for measurable utility rather than holistic flourishing. It argues that personal attitudes are deeply invested in this harm through unreflective habit and managerialism, which prioritize institutional self-preservation over ethical truthfulness. Most critically, the essay explores how the HR-driven focus on “vocational readiness” is tearing down “diverse and excelling scholarship,” severing the “long circuits” of individuation required for society to learn from its past. The resolution lies in a “reflective ascent” to restore Human Authorship over our future technical and social systems.
https://www.academia.edu/166005506/The_Wickedness_of_Human_Resources_The_Technicisation_of_Humanity
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Featured Image: The Lonely Star Neville at the PESA Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 9 December 2023.
Neville Buch
Latest posts by Neville Buch (see all)
- Agency, Cultural Construction, and Synoptic Vision: On Matt Patterson’s Comprehensive Examination in Sociological Theory (2009) – September 20, 2026
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- Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto. Ciceronian Statecraft, Spinozan Toleration, and Prophetic Praxis – September 19, 2026