Antikythera is a philosophy of technology think tank focused on understanding the evolution of planetary intelligence and envisioning its scaling through computational systems.
Antikythera takes its name from the first known computer — the antikythera mechanism — which was an instrument for planetary orientation, navigation, prediction, and planning. The name serves as inspiration for investigations of computational technologies that not only provide immense feats of calculation, but ones that also reveal and accelerate planetary intelligence.
Antikythera's school of thought repositions the past, present, and future of planetary computation and develops outputs that span near and far future foresight, speculation, and scenarios. Publications with MIT Press, including a book series and online journal, advance the school of thought through works that shape the technological trajectories. Studios, Lectures, Salons and Books and other media engage a consortium of partners across academia and industry and introduce an ever-expanding network to key concepts. Antikythera’s researchers work across design, technology, philosophy, engineering, international relations, social sciences, art and the humanities.
Antikythera is directed by philosopher of technology Benjamin Bratton. The organization’s research is based on his groundbreaking work defining the contours through which computation became a global system and an indelible constituent of planetary intelligence.” Bratton’s seminal book The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty, published by MIT Press in 2016 and republished for a 10th anniversary celebration in 2026, charted a new architecture of computational infrastructure and described in advance the next decade's developments in planetary computation. The book was widely influential across disciplines and cultures, and has been translated into French and Spanish.
Antikythera was founded in 2022 as an incubated project of the Berggruen Institute, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with offices in Los Angeles, Beijing, and Venice. In 2026 Antikythera became an independent non-profit.
Diffusion: A New Venture for Antikythera
Benjamin Bratton
There are moments in history when our ideas and dreams are ahead of our technical capability. There are other moments, such as the present, when our technologies have outpaced our concepts. At such times the composition of new conceptual frameworks is a necessary and practical mission.