An appropriated diagram of Bruno Latour’s “Purification and Translation” theory. We contrast the use of the mobile phone today and its users to his idea of the “modern”. He writes that there are two sets of practices that should remain distinct in order to remain effective. These include the work of translation, mixing “between entirely new types of beings, hybrids of nature and culture” (10), and work of purification, creating “two entirely distinct ontological zones: that of human beings on the one hand; that of nonhumans on the other” (10). As such, hybrids start existing and expanding due to our interactions with the nonhuman nature of the phone. According to Latour, as long as we consider the two practices of translation and purification separately, “we are truly modern” (11).

By: Sharon Choi & Kelly Chen