Rehabilitating planetary breathing in times of algorithmic extraction: Notes from the text by Minna Ruckenstein

Abstract

This article discusses Minna Ruckenstein's notion of breathing spaces as a critical perspective for rethinking digital futures beyond techno-solutionism. In a context where algorithmic architectures and data extraction increasingly shape behaviours, decisions, and imaginaries, Ruckenstein invites the social sciences and humanities to proactively engage in the design and governance of digital technologies. I analyse three key ideas from her work: breathing, critical making, and the re-humanisation of technologies, while also proposing the need to expand these concepts toward a planetary perspective. I argue that breathing is not merely an aesthetic metaphor, but can become a practice of resistance that connects the digital with the planetary. This implies recognising the material entanglement of the digital with specific territories and its deep interdependence with the living beings that shape our environments.