Dawn of Machinic Cyclicality: Life as We Don’t Know

Abstract

This paper engages with the question of cyclical time, and more specifically, how the re-imagination of collectives introduces an essential agency in conceptualizing time by diving into the narrative of the video game Horizon: Zero Dawn (2017) to examine the ways in which entanglements of different forms of life (such as the coexistence of humans, nonhumans and technology) as planetary collectives challenge the fixed structure of time through the incorporation of agency as a decisive factor in shaping cyclical time. The first section explores the complexity of the human-nonhuman coexistence in relation to discourses of the Anthropocene, Capitalocene and Chthulucene. The second section engages more specifically with the ways in which these newly conceived entanglements challenge notions of time by allowing for productive ways to transform our understanding of endings and the potential of innovative cyclicality to arise.