Computers and Society 02 - What is Technology
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The document explores the evolution and significance of technology, tracing its history from early human tool use to modern perceptions. It discusses technology's dual nature as both a blessing and a curse, illustrated through ancient myths, and stresses the importance of understanding its societal implications. Additionally, it critiques contemporary attitudes towards technology, drawing on philosophical perspectives to highlight the necessity of integrating civic wisdom with technological advancement.
![Technologies are extensions or expansions of ourselves
“Now the point of this myth is the fact that men at once
become fascinated by any extension of themselves in
y y
any material other than themselves.”
“To behold, use or perceive any extension of ourselves in
technological form is necessarily to embrace it.”
“It is this continuous embrace of our own
technology … that puts us in the Narcissus role of …
numbness in relation to these images [extensions]
of ourselves.”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/02whatistechnology-120113174734-phpapp01/85/Computers-and-Society-02-What-is-Technology-41-320.jpg)
Computers and Society 02 - What is Technology
- 2. Only a few species make use of tools. There i evidence of stone t l Th is id f t axes used by Homo Erectus 1.6 million years ago. From their emergence, Homo Sapiens have been using tools. g
- 3. Tools were used mainly for existence (food and shelter) shelter), but also for social evolution as well. And once a tool is discovered, new uses are di d discovered for its use.
- 4. Tools are much older than writing and even older than language, and are known by the body as much as by the mind. i d
- 5. The Earliest Known Forms of Human Adornment - Circa 132,000 BCE – 98,000 BCE The Earliest Use of Pigments - Circa 400,000 BCE – 350,000 BCE The Earliest Musical Instruments - Circa 33,000 BCE The Earliest Examples of Figurative Art (Venus of Schelklingen) - Circa 38,000 BCE – 33,000 BCE
- 6. Between 8000 and 4000 BCE (that is, about 10,000 years ago) a form of accounting developed that used little clay tokens to record the sale or purchase of goods.
- 7. Payment for: Work/labour p Envelope Signature/Seal 1 large measure of barley + 2 small measures of something else Contents of 4 days envelope 4 measures of metal
- 9. The first clay tokens were symbolic representations of real things. p g Eventually, the tokens were y, replaced by symbols representing the tokens.
- 10. 1. Tokens pressed into envelope to indicate contents 3. Token impressions replaced with pictograms for things represented b t k thi t d by tokens. 2. Tokens pressed onto flat “sheet”, thereby eliminating need for tokens in an envelope.
- 11. Pictograms Glyph Cuneiform 3000 BC 2800 BC 2600 BC 2600 BC (stone) (clay) 2000 BC 1800 BC
- 12. Technology as a word: A History
- 13. Proto-Indo-Euro tec To make Greek techne art, skill, craft, method logikos reasoning, thinking technologia t h l i systematic treatment of an art, craft, or technique
- 14. Some claim that the first appearance of the word technology in its modern gy meaning was in Dr. Jacob Bigelow’s 1829 book The Elements of Technology.
- 16. Technology was originally much more of a craft or art than an applied science science. Newcomen’s steam engine or Edison’s inventions were not really dependent upon a knowledge of math or physics.
- 19. Prior to the 19th century, what we think of as technology more often than not had female connotations, since technology was associated with the useful arts, such as pottery, beer, and textile making.
- 20. Between 1820 1910 th word B t 1820-1910, the d “technology” gradually acquired mainly male connotations. Do you think that is still true?
- 21. Today, the word technology y, gy means more than just: 1. Things/Tools 1 Thi /T l
- 22. 2. Techniques
- 23. 3. Technology as a System Technological systems are a complex web of hardware, knowledge, inventors, operators, consumers, corporations, laws, and others involved in a technology technology. Thinking critically about technology thus requires knowledge of the system as a whole, how it was created (history), and how the parts interact.
- 24. 4. Technology as a Way of Thinking and Seeing the World Technology can also refer to a way of thinking, or a way of interpreting the world. world To understand technology, we have to understand the technological engagement with the world.
- 25. 5. 5 Technology as a Form of Life Technology is no more a tool than language is a tool. That is, technology becomes an essential part of life; it becomes part of the essence of life and thus becomes hidden or taken for granted. To understand technology, we have to de-routinize it, understand its role and its embeddedness in our lives.
- 27. "Myth is a dramatic vision of life, and we never cease making myths, accepting myths, believing myths" (Dorothy Van Gh ) h (D h Ghent) This is true with tec ology as well. Part o t e s s t ue w t technology a t of the purpose of this course is to expose many of our common beliefs about technology as myths. But as well, some ancient myths can still speak to us in regards to technology. People thousands of years ago also had to worry about new technologies and society as well, and their myths well speak to this concern.
- 28. Oedipus and the Sphinx Thebes is Th b i suffering from a ff i f menace of nature: the Sphinx what walks on four feet, and two feet, and three feet and has only one voice; when it walks on most one voice; when it walks on most feet, it is weakest?
- 29. Humans The third foot is techne, techne our ability to craft and use technology. In the myth it is this myth, third foot, humanity’s technological know- how, that is at the root of Oedipus’s success and failure.
- 30. This third foot can also be a sword Just prior to Oedipus's Oedipus s confrontation with the Sphinx, Oedipus slays a stranger—his father at father—at a crossroad with his sword. Oedipus thus personifies the ambiguity of the human creature, an ambiguity that lies in his third foot, his ability to use his craft- knowledge for both good and evil at the same time.
- 31. This is a tragic vision: g Technology is both a blessing and a curse, and these two natures are indivisible. If we want the blessings, then we have to live with the drawbacks. But this wasn’t the only way that wasn t the ancient Greeks viewed technology.
- 32. //www.mwcag.org.au/orange/labyrinth/Theseus_Minotaur_Mosaic.jpg Theseus and the Minotaur’s Labyrinth The Labyrinth of King Minos of Crete at Knossos was considered the technological marvel of the ancient world.
- 33. Yet at the heart of this technological marvel is a true menace: the minotaur. One can journey into the labyrinth, but j y y , slaying the monster concealed in the technology is more difficult … … as is escaping from the technology
- 34. Theseus escaped via the forethought and reason of Ariadne’s thread. A way out of the confusing labyrinth that is technological change is possible via rational appraisal and by maintaining a link to the past. This course is an attempt at maintaining a thread of Ariadne …
- 35. Prometheus Gift of Fire to Humanity His punishment: Having his liver eaten every t day Humanity’s punishment: ?
- 36. Pandora’s Box Which contains “toil, pain, and hope”
- 37. Plato in his dialogue Protagoras: Prometheus steals fire as well as “wisdom in the crafts” “Although man, acquired in this way wisdom of daily life, civic wisdom he had not, since this was still in the possession of Zeus”
- 38. Thus according to Plato, Prometheus (and humanity at large) suffer because Prometheus stole only part of what we need to live good lives: Prometheus stole f h l fire (technology), b ( h l ) but did not acquire civic wisdom. That is, having technological mastery without grounding it properly in a just political order is a recipe for suffering.
- 39. Plato argued that the tragedy of g g y technology can be almost totally avoided by first and foremost thinking about technology in the context of its surrounding society and its political order. This course is all about this practice …
- 40. www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com/pictures/echo‐narcissus‐1903/ Narcissus and Echo … as interpreted by Marshall McLuhan
- 41. Technologies are extensions or expansions of ourselves “Now the point of this myth is the fact that men at once become fascinated by any extension of themselves in y y any material other than themselves.” “To behold, use or perceive any extension of ourselves in technological form is necessarily to embrace it.” “It is this continuous embrace of our own technology … that puts us in the Narcissus role of … numbness in relation to these images [extensions] of ourselves.”
- 42. Within the Narcissus trance, we are too numb to recognize that “Man in the th normal use of technology … is l ft h l i perpetually modified by it.” As such, we tend to be completely unconscious of the real effects of technology on the individual and on society and simply embrace each new technology uncritically.
- 43. For McLuhan, the best way to avoid this Narcissus trance in the face of technological change “is simply in knowing that the th t th spell can occur immediately upon contact.” ll i di t l t t” That is also part of what we will try to be doing in this course: understand both the obvious and also the sometimes subliminal and subtle consequences of our ometime blimin l nd btle on eq en e o technological infrastructure.