Technological Dependency

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Technological Dependency
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3 Theories (Metaphores) of Technological
Dependency

• Technology as BribeHerbert Marcuse
• Technology as Religious CultJacques Ellul
• Technology as Habit/AddictionMarshall McLuhan

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Herbert Marcuse
German Philosopher and Social Critic Founding
Member of the Frankfurt School and the Marxist
inspired intellectual movement known
as Critical Theory
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Herbert Marcuse

• Intellectual leader of the 1960s Counter Culture
  Movement
• Inspired the idea of dropping out of the
  system
• Argued that the productivity of the modern
  industrial system essentially buys workers off
  to prevent revolution against that system
• Implies that the powers bestowed by technologies
  of the modern industrial system effectively pays
  people off from becoming critics of that system
  by keeping them happily preoccupied with
  Wasteful consumption

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Jacques Ellul
French Sociologist and Social Critic His book
The Technological Society Was a major
influence on Neo-Luddite Thinkers in the 1970s
and 80s
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Jacques Ellul

• Intellectual leader of the Neo-Luddite movement
• Coined the phrase autonomous technology to
  describe how technology appears to be beyond
  human control
• Argues that technology, b/c it is complex and
  beyond our grasp, but that we are so dependent on
  it, it can become an object of a reverential
  attitude normally applied to only to objects of
  religious veneration
• Scientists, engineers and other technocrats
  form a new priesthood
• In the face of the mystery of technology and our
  sense of dependence on it and the authority of
  technocrats, people respond with a passive and
  deferential attitude
• The belief in progress provides a source of
  meaning in many peoples livesa sign that
  technology and technological change have
  literally become objects of worship for many
  people today

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Technological Priesthoods?
Canadian Oil and Gas Associations Alberta
Research Council Canadian Association of Drilling
Engineers Canadian Association of Geophysical
Contractors Canadian Association of Oilwell
Drilling Contractors Canadian Association of
Petroleum Information Specialists(Telephone 403
6075438 ) Canadian Association of Petroleum
Land Administration Canadian Association of
Petroleum Landmen Canadian Association of
Petroleum Producers Canadian Association of
Petroleum Production Accounting(Telephone 40326
51533) Canadian Energy Pipeline
Association Canadian Energy Research
Institute Canadian Gas Association Canadian Heavy
Oil Association Canadian Independent Petroleum
Marketers Association Canadian Institute of
Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Canadian
Institute of Energy Canadian Institute of
Resources Law Canadian Oil Heat
Association Canadian Petroleum Products
Institute Canadian Petroleum Safety
Council Canadian Society for Unconventional Gas
(CSUG) Canadian Society of Exploration
Geophysicists Canadian Society of Petroleum
Engineers Canadian Society of Petroleum
Geologists Centre for Energy Compressed Gas
Association Canada Energy Council of
Canada Environmental Services Association of
Alberta Gas Processing Association of Canada
Industrial Gas Users Association International
Association of Drilling Contractors National Oil
Recyclers Association Newfoundland Ocean
Industries Association Offshore/Onshore
Technologies Association of Nova Scotia Ontario
Petroleum Institute Inc. Ontario Propane
Association Petroleum Accountants Society of
Canada Petroleum Communication Foundation Petroleu
m Human Resources Council of Canada Petroleum
Services Association of Canada Petroleum Society
of CIM Petroleum Tank Management Association of
Alberta Petroleum Technology Alliance
Canada Petrolia Discovery Foundation Inc. Pipe
Line Contractors Association of Canada Propane
Gas Association of Canada Inc. Public Petroleum
Data Model Association Small Explorers and
Producers Association of Canada Society of
Petroleum Engineers The American Association of
Petroleum Geologists The Association of
Professional Engineers, Geologists and
Geophysicists of Alberta World Petroleum
Congresses
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Elites and Knowledge Monopolies

• Roman society as a whole went along with the
  unlimited policy of imperial expansion using mass
  armies because it benefitted all Roman citizens
  (source of the emperors power was bread and
  circuses)Innis calls this kind of a rut a
  knowledge monopoly
• Meso-american societies carried on their
  exploitation of corn and warfare not just b/c
  this was the source of power of aristocracy,
  conquered areas also fed the people
• System of clearing and moai construction were
  integral parts of complex clan inheritance system

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Harold Innis

• Canadian economic historian and pioneering media
  theorist
• Any tech benefits a definite group of people more
  than others for 2 main reasons
• 1. No one can master all techs so we always need
  experts who can use their control over access to
  a tech and its benefits as a base of power
  (technocrats)
• 2. Benefits of tech accrue to diverse groups, but
  never to everyone equally (eg. Roman Empire was
  good for Romans not so much for those they
  conquered)
• Both kinds of groups form distinct communities of
  mutual dependence with vested interests in the
  continued exploitation of a tech or tech systemA
  Knowledge Monopoly

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Example of a Knowledge Monopoly

• Hieroglyphics very hard to learn
• Only a small minority could devote the time
  (Priests and scribes of Egypt)
• Egyptian peasants needed written records
• 1. To restore fields after Nile floods
• 2. To track time (calendar) to predict flooding
• Scribes were the real power in Egypt (with the
  support of the peasants)
• Akanhatan Lost Pharaoh 1300 BCE
• 1st monotheist, pacifist, reformer in the Arts
  (introduced realism in art)
• Challenged scribes
• Was likely deposed by scribes, who put Tut on the
  throne instead

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Akenhatens Revolution in Art

• Akhaten with children Standard
  Egytian
• and scene with birds
  temple art

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Akenhatenthe Heretic Pharaoh
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Marshall McLuhan
Canadian professor of English literature McLuhan's
work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of
the study of media theory McLuhan is known for
the expressions "the medium is the message" and
"global village
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Marshall McLuhan

• All technologies involve us in methodical
  practice
• Such practices can become second nature, and
  can slip into the background of our lives
• Like any bad habit or addiction, we can be
  psychologically numb to what we are doing
• Difficult to bring habitual technological
  practices into critical ethical focus
  (foreground)

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The Invention of Invention

• Alfred North Whitehead The greatest invention
  of the 20th century was the invention of
  invention
• McLuhan suggests that one technique that we
  have become addicted to is the very process of
  inventing new techniques and technologies itself
• This puts us in a terrible bindwe are addicted
  to the technological process, but whenever
  negatives arise from this addiction, we turn
  first and foremost to new technology to save us,
  thus potentially reinforcing the addiction

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The Pattern of Addiction

• Some behavior solves a certain kind of problem
  (reward)
• That behavior can also contribute to the
  worsening of that problem, but in a way that is
  delayed or which can be overlooked
  (Reinforcement)
• Thus a spiral of dependency can begin
• McLuhan suggests that our individual use of
  technologies and the entire process of
  technological development can be seen to fit
  this pattern

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Technological Fix

• Technological Fix The attempt to overcome or
  offset a harm of a technology by way of the
  creation or use of some other technology
• Typically used in the defense of the neutrality
  thesis and the belief in progress (eg.
  Buckminster Fuller)
• If some technologies do have certain harms, these
  harms simply require the use of other
  technologies to correct them (thus offsetting any
  intrinsic harms, and leaving only those harms
  that result from intentional bad uses
• eg. catalytic converters, v-chip, ethanol, etc.

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The Myth of the Technological Fix?

• Alan Drengson describes the myth of the
  technological fix as a false belief that all
  negative effects of technologies can be
  addressed by tech fixes (i.e. without any need
  for moral or political limitation of the use of
  technologies)
• Drengson presents a pejorative definition of
  tech fix The attempt to avoid the critical
  ethical analysis of some existing technology by
  creating or modifying technologiesaka a mere
  tech fix

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What is the Alternative to the Technological
Response?

• If technological creativity, including being a
  creative problem solver, thinking outside the
  box, being proactive, innovative, etc., can
  itself be part of the problem, whats the
  alternative?
• Thoughtful ethical criticism and renunciation or
  limitation of some highly problematic
  technological practices/habits is the alternative
• Our lives must seek a proper balance between
  these two fundamental ways of responding to the
  problems thrown up by our technological creativity