Lecture
4: A Short Course in the Philosophy of Technology
A
main focus of this course is the impact of technology on society
But
what is technology?
A
common answer: technology = applied science
Some
would suggest that this is an incomplete, perhaps misleading, answer
The Idea
of Technology
'Technology'
- coined in the 1820s by Jacob Bigelow, a Harvard professor.E
Derived
from the Greek word techne for art, craft
or skill
The perceived
connection between technology & science is a relatively recent one.
Technology
and Science
Until
roughly the 1600s, science was generally thought of as an abstract, theoretical
pursuit.
Technology
was thought of as an art.
This
changed in the 1600s with thinkers such as Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes
and an increased focus on experimentation.
What is
Technology?
“the practical application of knowledge especially in
a particular area” (Webster’s On-line)
"Technology
... is, in general, the organization of knowledge, people , and things to accomplish specific practical
goals." (Morton Winston)
Typical
Definitions of Technology are Very Broad
"Technology
... is, in general, the organization of knowledge, people , and things to accomplish specific practical
goals." (Morton Winston)
Notice
how wide this conception of technology is.
wheels
transmissions
the
classroom
the
monetary system
representative
democracy
language
Is
this a plausible way to think of technology?
Is Technology
Neutral?
Some would say that particular technologies are neither
good nor bad. It’s our use of them that’s good or
bad.
“Technology
doesn’t kill people, people kill people”
A sword
may be a decorative wall hanging or a weapon
Neil
Postman: Technology as Ideology
Ideology
– “a
set of assumptions of which we are barely conscious but which nonetheless
directs our efforts to give shape and coherence to the world.” (Neil Postman)
Postman
claims that technologies often embody particular ideologies
TV?
The
PC
Political
ideas often "present themselves in material objects ... they might be called
artifacts/ideas.“
(Langdon Winner)
Invisible
Technologies
“Some
technologies come in disguise." (Postman)
Giving
Grades to Papers
Statistics
"They
do not look like technologies, and [so] they do their work … without much
criticism or even awareness."
"When
a method of doing things becomes so deeply associated with an institution
that we no longer know which came first -- the method or the institution
-- then it is difficult to change the institution or even to imagine alternative
methods for achieving its purposes." (92)
Statistics
The
idea that what can be quantified is what can be known is a tempting one.
"the grand book of the universe cannot be understood
unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the alphabet
in which it is composed. It is written in the language of mathematics." (Galileo)
Statistics
allow this idea to operate in new places.
"Statistics
makes possible new perceptions and realities by making visible large-scale
patterns." (Postman)
IQ
Public
opinion
Postman
on “Technopoly”
3
Stages of the Technology/Culture Relationship
Tool
Use -
"technology is not autonomous, and is seen as subject to the control of some
binding social or religious system."
Technocracy
- tools increase in importance (but are still not treated as autonomous),
technology is seen as a means to progress
Technopoly
- "submission of all forms of cultural life to the sovereignty of technique
and technology."
Neil
Postman argues that we live in a Technopoly.
Is he right?
David
Strong on Where Technology Goes Wrong
We
value technology because it frees us to do other things.
But,
in practice, technology doesn't free us up to do fulfilling things.
"what people are freed up for are …more commodities.“
As
we use it, technology alienates us from the world.
"What
seemed promising at the outset … leads ironically to disengagement, diversion,
distraction and loneliness."
Albert
Borgmann on Devices vs. Things
Things:
A thing "is inseparable from its context, namely its world and from our commerce
with the thing and its world ... The experience of a thing is always and
also a bodily and social engagement with the thing's world." (Borgmann)
E.g.,
a wood stove
Devices:
A
device "provides a commodity, one element of the original thing ... and disburdens
people of all the elements that compose the world and engaging character
of the thing." "The machinery makes no demands on our skill, strength or
attention ..." (Strong)
E.g.,
central heating
The Point
"Our
aspirations for freedom and happiness go awry when we attempt to procure
them with devices." (Strong)
Does
this go too far?
Some
of these ideas are overblown, but worth reflecting on nonetheless.
Technology
may be a wider, less neutral thing than meets the eye.
