Magic in the Lab: Elements for an Ethnographic Study of (not-so) Hypermodern Magic

Abstract: This paper explores the potential and limitations of characterising and documenting "magic" as empirical expressions of human behaviour and belief in the context of high-tech technologies. Instead of revisiting the conceptual debates on the nature of the relationships between "magic" (in general) and technology (in a broad sense), I narrow the focus and propose an ethnographic account of the forms "magic" assumes in the context of an (allegedly) secular and scientific place, a leading laboratory of robotics and artificial intelligence in France. The paper discusses the various ways in which references to "magic" arise in everyday experiences, in the laboratory, in discourses, practices, attitudes and symbols. It then goes on to consider the relevance and limitations of an ethnography of magic in a technological environment like this. Finally, I discuss the possibility of operationalising a definition of "magic" in an anthropological perspective in the context of hypermodern environments of heavily digitalised societies.