Technology

:See also: Innovation

Technology and philosophy

Technicism

Generally, Technicism is an overreliance or overconfidence in technology as a benefactor of society.

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Taken to extreme, some argue that technicism is the belief that humanity will ultimately be able to control the entirety of existence using technology. In other words, human beings will eventually be able to master all problems, supply all wants and needs, possibly even control the future. (For a more complete treatment of the topic see the work of Egbert Schuurman, for example at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v3n1/schuurman.html.) Some, such as Monsma, et al., connect these ideas to the abdication of God as a higher moral authority.

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More commonly, technicism is a criticism of the commonly held belief that newer, more recently-developed technology is "better." For example, more recently-developed computers are faster than older computers, and more recently-developed cars have greater gas efficiency and more features than older cars. Since current technologies are generally accepted as good, future technological developments are not considered circumspectly, resulting in what seems to be a blind acceptance of technological developments.

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Optimism, pessimism, and appropriate technology

Pessimism

On the somewhat pessimistic side, are certain philosophers like Herbert Marcuse, Jacques Ellul, and John Zerzan, who believe that technological societies are inherently flawed a priori. They suggest that the result of such a society is to become evermore technological at the cost of freedom and psychological health (and probably physical health in general as pollution from technological products is dispersed).

Related Topics:
Herbert Marcuse - Jacques Ellul - John Zerzan

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Perhaps the most poignant criticisms of technology are found in what are now considered to be literary classics, for example Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Related Topics:
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World - Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange - George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-Four

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Optimism

On the other hand, the optimistic assumptions are made by proponents of technoprogressivist views, such as transhumanism and singularitarianism, that view technological development as generally having beneficial effects for the society and the human condition. In these ideologies, technological development is morally good. Some critics see these ideologies as examples of scientism, mathematical fetishism, or techno-utopianism and fear the idea of technological singularity which they support.

Related Topics:
Technoprogressivist - Transhumanism - Singularitarianism - Technological development - Scientism - Mathematical fetishism - Techno-utopianism - Technological singularity

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Appropriate technology

The notion of appropriate technology, however, was developed in the twentieth century to describe situations where it was not desirable to use very new technologies or those that required access to some centralized infrastructure or parts or skills imported from elsewhere. The eco-village movement emerged in part due to this concern.

Related Topics:
Appropriate technology - Twentieth century - Infrastructure - Eco-village

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Theories and concepts in technology

There are many theories and concepts that seek to explain the relationship beteen technology and society:

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• Appropriate technology
• Diffusion of innovations
• Jacques Ellul's Technological Society, is considered a classic criticism of modern culture's pursuit of technology for its own sake. For more on these ideas see .
• Intermediate technology, more of an economics concern, refers to compromises between central and expensive technologies of developed nations and those which developing nations find most effective to deploy given an excess of labour, and scarcity of cash. In general, a so-called "appropriate" technology will also be "intermediate".
• Persuasion technology, in economics, definitions or assumptions of progress or growth are often related to one or more assumptions about technology's economic influence. Challenging prevailing assumptions about technology and its usefulness has led to alternative ideas like uneconomic growth or measuring well-being. These, and economics itself, can often be described as technologies, specifically, as persuasion technology — a concern covered in its own separate article.
• Posthumanism
• Precautionary principle
• Strategy of technology
• Technocapitalism
• Radovan Richta's theory of technological evolution
• Technological determinism
• Technological diffusion
• Technological singularity
• Technology acceptance model
• Technology lifecycle
• Technology transfer
• Transhumanism