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Technology & Society

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Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

Dit document bevat een samenvatting van de volledige cursus/ lecturenotes van het vak Technology & Society. Ik behaalde voor dit vak 18/20 in 1e zit!

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Publié le 3 juillet 2024
Nombre de pages 36
Écrit en 2023/2024
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Technology & Society
HS1: What is technology?
Defining technology
*It is not always obvious what should be included in the category “technology” and what should not.
Galbraith: “the systematic application of scientific or other knowledge to practical tasks”
 This fits within a wider view of technology as applied science.
- “Science” =we here understand knowledge that was developed and tested using
formal, systematic methods,
- “Application” = using such knowledge to solve the real-world problems that society
is confronted with
 But technology is more than using knowledge. “Technology applies advanced knowledge to
develop systems that support people in achieving some desired objectivity”

The systems view of technology
*A system = an organized whole consisting of coupled components (or subsystems)
 A system interacts with the rest of the world by receiving an input of matter, energy and/or
information that enters the system.
 The system will normally convert or process this input into an output, which it then gives back to
the world
 Systems are coupled when output from one system is used as input by another system, so that the
activity of one depends on the activity of the other

*A technological system is designed to achieve one or more objectives. These are goals, values, needs
or desires of the system's users. Simply put, an objective is what the user wants to achieve by using
the system. This is typically in order to solve a problem or satisfy a need. But what a person using the
system wants is not necessarily good in se.

*How a system supports the achievement of an objective. Such achievement means that some
change in the situation must be produced. Typically, a support system will produce a desired
condition, such as food, clothes, or energy. For this, it will need to process some required input,
which we will call resources, into the desired output, which we will call the product.

Embedded knowledge
* When the functioning of a support system is very simple and intuitive, we call it a tool, rather than a
technology. For example, the functioning of a hammer or pencil is so obvious that we do not need any
special knowledge or complicated instructions to use them.
 The functioning of a tool is transparent: we can directly observe how its components are coupled
(e.g. the hammer’s head and its handle), and how precisely input (e.g. our handling of the pencil) is
transformed into output (e.g. the pencil marks left on paper). The functioning of a technological
system, on the other hand, remains hidden (at least for the non-expert user). That is what makes
technology potentially problematic: we depend on others, with a special expertise, to get it to
function.

*Let us then examine the technological knowledge needed to build a support system. This knowledge
consists of procedures that specify which kinds of components are to be coupled in what way in order

,to produce a system that produces the desired output—and this in a manner that is both effective,
and, as we will further specify, efficient. This knowledge is advanced in the sense that it is not
common knowledge, such as the use of a hammer, but based on extensive research by many people
building on each other’s result
 Finally, we must explain how this abstract knowledge is realized, applied or implemented in a
concrete system. Technological systems, such as machines, typically consist of material components
(“hardware”). But technologies can also be social, psychological, organizational, or computational.
When these procedures become so complex as to lose their transparency, we can properly view them
as advanced technological systems. This type of system is sometimes called “orgware”.
 Such systems embody, implement or exteriorize the knowledge in an explicit, dependable form.
That means that there is no need to understand the detailed functioning in order to use the system.
The knowledge is embedded in the system
 Such a system functions as what is known in systems theory as a “black box”: a system of which
the internal functioning remains hidden. The user may know what goes into the system (input) and
what comes out in return (output) but does not know the intermediate processing steps or
components of the system. The black box is opaque, not transparent: the internal complexity is not
visible to the user

Extending human agency
*The objectives of technological systems derive from the goals of their human users. Therefore, it is
worth examining how humans try to achieve their goals. Cybernetics is the science that studies goal-
directed systems. According to cybernetics, such goal-directed interaction requires the following
functions:
1) perception: what is my present situation? Establishing this requires sensory organs or
sensors
2) information processing: what does that mean for me? This requires the ability to store and make
sense of information
3) goals or values: in what way does the perceived situation differ from my ideal or preferred
situation? This requires the ability to evaluate a situation as better or worse
4) action: how do I effectively change the perceived situation? This requires organs, called “effectors”,
that convert intentions into physical actions.
5) feedback: in how far was the action effective? This is the control function that suppresses the
inevitable errors, deviations or disturbances
6) challenges: these are phenomena originating in the environment that may either help or hinder
me in achieving my goals, and thus influence my planned course of action

*This defines a human being as an intentional agent: a goal-directed system that acts on its situation
in order to achieve more of its goals or values
 We can now characterize technology as an external support for agency: a collection of advanced
tools that make goal-directed action more effective
 The media theorist Marshall McLuhan saw media as an extension of the self, that is, as
technological systems that extend natural human capabilities. Technologies thus change the way
humans perceive, reason, decide, and act. Therefore, new technologies often have major
psychological, physical and social impacts. McLuhan summarized this in his famous slogan: We shape
our tools and our tools shape us.
 McLuhan noted that the use of technology extends the reach of body and mind

,  This brings us to the key notion of technology as a mediator between humans and
their environment.

The mediating role of technology
* Technological systems increase human power or ability to achieve goals. We can distinguish at least
the following general functions for technology.
• amplifying perception: e.g. telescopes, glasses, …
• amplifying action: e.g. cars, cranes, …
• amplifying information processing and storage: e.g. computers, books, …
• amplifying control: e.g. automation, thermostats, …
 Technology functions as an interface between the environment with its challenges and humans
with their goals

Philosophical attitudes towards technology

*The first column (a) represents the attitudes most common among the engineers or scientists that
develop technologies. The second column (b) represents the attitudes more common among
philosophers and social scientists.

1) Instrumentalism vs technological autonomy
 Instrumentalism is the position that technology is intrinsically subordinated to humans. This
philosophy sees technological systems as mere instruments or tools that perform the function for
which they are designed. That means that people can choose whether to use a system or not,
and for what purpose they use it
 Technological autonomy is the opposite position, according to which humans are
subordinated to technology, and technologies evolve according to their own dynamics. Here
the idea is that people have to adapt their lifestyle and work to the prevailing technological
conditions. They do not really have a choice in the matter
o as Marxists have argued, the material circumstances in a society, which are strongly
dependent on the existing technology, dictate how people should behave. And not
even the owners, designers or engineers of the technological systems have control
over it, because its development is too fast and complex for anyone to be able to
control it. Technological determinism is a position that assumes that a society's
technology determines the development of its social structure and cultural values
 Our own position will be intermediate between these two extremes, seeing technology as
neither autonomous nor subordinate, but in a relation of mutual dependence with humanity.
Human society and technology co-evolve, the one constantly adapting to the other

2) Neutrality vs inherent bias
 The position of technological neutrality is that technology is an objective reflection of the
human knowledge and desire that went into building it. The idea is that the systems are
designed according to formal principles, as expressed e.g. in blueprints, computer programs,

, or mathematical models. While these designs may be very complex, they are ultimately
transparent: you can always open the black box and see what each component is doing and
why. The assumption is that there is an underlying scientific rationality
o In this view, the values or biases of the system are imposed by its human creators. If
the effects of a technology are negative (e.g. people getting addicted to social media),
that is either because its designers wanted to achieve that effect (e.g. in order to get
more advertising revenue), or because the design failed to take into account certain
factors (e.g. the dopamine inducing effect of receiving messages)
 The position of non-neutrality is that technology through its very nature imposes values and
biases, independently of the desires of its creators. Social scientists and philosophers, such as
Jacques Ellul, commonly argue that technology imposes a biased worldview. This
technological way of thinking promotes instrumental values such as efficiency, rationality, and
material output, while neglecting other, more “human” values, such as love, wisdom,
serenity, or intimacy

3) Techno-optimism vs techno-pessimism
 The optimistic position is that technology is basically a force for the good. There are a lot of
arguments for this position. Indeed, over the past few centuries science and technology have
spectacularly improved the human condition, by increasing the wealth, life expectancy, education
level, safety, and comfort of the world population
 An extrapolation of on-going advances leads techno-optimists to envisage a
techno-utopia: an ideal world in which all human needs are fully satisfied
 The pessimistic position sees technology basically as a negative factor. This is based on
arguments such as the following. Technology has alienated us from our natural, human
condition and thus made us unhappy and stressed.
 It has created so-called existential risks: dangers of a complete annihilation. These include a
nuclear war that kills all life on Earth, the release of deadly viruses created by bioengineering,
climate collapse

HS2: The evolution of technology
A brief history of technology
*Humans are not the first species to develop sophisticated external support systems. Many animals
use and even build tools.
 The first human tools were probably sharpened sticks for digging, wooden spears and clubs for
hunting. These were later extended with stone knives and spear points. Innovations would spread
through culture: the social transmission of technical knowledge via imitation, the exchange of
artifacts, and language. This led to the accumulation of ever more sophisticated knowledge
 About 10 000 years ago, the domestication of plants and animals initiated agriculture—an
essential technology for producing food. Next to the selective breeding of species to become ever
more productive and easier to handle

* The development of architectural knowledge allowed people to build increasingly large, stable and
comfortable accommodation and infrastructure. Architecture relied not only on practical experience,
but increasingly on the application of mathematics and physics to the design and

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