Working definition. Repair is a response to rupture that seeks renewed relationship rather than a return to an untouched past.
Inherited meaning
Repair belongs to craft, medicine, justice, ecology, and intimate life. In each, the repaired thing carries history. Good repair does not conceal every seam; it understands damage, restores capability, and changes the conditions that produced the break.
Meaning in the imagination economy
Technological culture prefers replacement because novelty is easier to market than accountability. But systems trained, deployed, and governed by people will cause harm. A positive post-AI philosophy must include repair as a primary capacity, not a public-relations phase after failure.
What changes in practice
Create routes to report harm, pause operation, restore what was lost, and change the underlying architecture. Let affected people define what repair requires. Publish learning without turning their damage into promotional material.