the most basic level or core of an operating system of a computer
the inner part of a seed, fruit stone, or nut
the central or essential part of something
a publication examining technology's role in shaping our collective future
A Note from the Editor
Kernel’s inaugural issue asks the question: where do we begin? It opens with a section that’s oriented to the past, to situate our work within a lineage. Having understood its contingency, we are brought to the present. We examine the value-ladenness of the technologies that undergird and shape our lives, and understand how they simultaneously circumscribe our agency and grant us affordances for action and being. Then, finally, we speculate about the future: about how we might shape technologies and how they will in turn shape us.
Different systems define their kernels in different ways. We’re interested in the tensions between these definitions: human-made kernels govern systems in a top-down fashion, while natural kernels world-build in a decentralized, ecological manner. We’re also interested in the similarities: in all these systems the kernel is fundamental, and its composition and potentialities are thus worth understanding.
We’re not looking for prescriptive, top-down answers. We’re looking for kernels.
All annual subscribers will receive full digital access to Kernel Magazine in October as well as a print copy. All profits over and above the costs of producing this magazine will help seed a community treasury managed by Reboot ❤️
