ENGR 392 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Paternalism, Videotelephony, Canadian Council Of Professional Engineers
10 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
1
ENGR 392: Impact of Technology on Society
Lecture 1
Introduction
Lecture 2
Nye Ch1: Can we define technology?
Definition of technology
• Nye defines technology as a narrative with 3 parts:
Technology
(Narrative)
Intention
necessity/reason to accomplish goal
Artifact
object used to accomplish goal
Result
possible outcomes (not always intended) that occur when goal
attempted
Ex. Keys locked in car, can retrieve by calling locksmith, opening door with coat hanger or
breaking window with rock from ground.
Technology
(normative)
Intention
getting in car
Normative
Artifact
locksmith, coat hanger, rock
Value neutral
Result
opening door, breaking glass.
Normative
• Normative: has value, can be good or bad
Does improved technology mean progress?
Relationship between technology & humanity
• Notions of progress: Technological advancement =/= progress
• Historical evolution of how question is answered.
• Does technology mean progress? Positive/negative?
Ex. Technology progressing & cancer progressing: not always good thing.
Historical
circumstances
Enlightenment
• Mid-late 18th century (American/French revolution)
• Seeks to escape oppression (monarchy/ church/
socioeconomic)
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2
& conceptual
components
• Claim to knowledge through science instead of divine
(king & church power)
• Technology is instrumental: means to end (achieve social
justice)
Technocratic
• Early-mid 20th century
• Technology is progress, “the rest will take care of itself”
[social/political/cultural/moral]
• Technology becomes inherent: an end in of itself
• Automation/industrialization/dehumanization of unskilled
workers
Counter-
enlightenment
• 1960s-70s to today
• Realization: not all technology is progress Ex.
Wars/disasters/Vietnam/3-mile island/Hiroshima
• Crisis of legitimacy: decline in confidence of
administrations/institutions/leadership
• Counter-cultural movements: women/ animal/ nature/
climate [rights]
• Does improved technology mean progress? [Marx answer = yes, but Progress towards what?]
• What society we want to live in? [democracy?]
• Technological progress =/= social progress
Nye ch2: does technology control us?
Are technologies deterministic?
Technological
determinism
technology determines structure of society | Technology>society
Hard
technological
determinism
(T>S) (one-way influence) technology has will/logic that
forces its creation & shapes society
Soft
technological
determinism
(T<>S) (two-way influence possible) Technological
momentum: technology can be shaped in infancy, but
when matures/spreads/is acceptable/gains momentum =
harder to change
Ex. No choice in using ICE today: practicality vs necessity
Constructivism
All the way
down Social
Constructivism
(S>T): technology is reflection of social values; society
has 100% control & determines technology creation
Ex. Turtle holding the world, what’s holding turtle?
Another turtle.
Co-
constructivism
(S<>T): technology is reflection of social values, but
society does not control it
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3
Ex. Japanese refuse to adopt guns in favor of swords (because lacks symbolic value to warriors),
but adopted later [soft tech det example]
Ex. Amish refuse to adopt technologies that they do not want (phone, car, etc) [social
constructivism/ good hard tech det counter example]
• Nye argues against technological determinism by previous 2 ex.
• “Awareness of tools/machine does not automatically force society to adopt or keep them”
• Reification: making something real, considering objects having abilities
Ex. technology amplifies pre-existing social context
Ex. Introduction of vacuums increase housewife work instead of reduce
Lecture 3
Nye Ch7: work: more, or less? Better, or worse?
Machines replacing people
• Process in industrialization: mechanization/centralization/automation of manufacturing: caused
loss of blue collar and creation of white collar [jobs]
• Farms/agriculture > cities
• Labor unskilled workers > automation
Taylorism
• Human activity now a science, dehumanization > humans are cogs in machine
• Individual tasks organized into rational sequences in order to increase
efficiency
• Took agency from workers, provoked strikes
Fordism
• Assembly line, mass production of identical machines in short time
Lean
production
• Application of Taylorism, but teams have tasks & more say in decision making
• More quality control, better communication, decreased production time, just in
time deliveries
• Luddite: person against/unfamiliar with technology
• Efficiency creates proletariat (working class) & displaces current working classes > but creates
new/other classes/jobs
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Document Summary
Definition of technology: nye defines technology as a narrative with 3 parts: Result object used to accomplish goal possible outcomes (not always intended) that occur when goal attempted. Keys locked in car, can retrieve by calling locksmith, opening door with coat hanger or breaking window with rock from ground. Result locksmith, coat hanger, rock value neutral opening door, breaking glass. Normative: normative: has value, can be good or bad. Technology progressing & cancer progressing: not always good thing. Enlightenment mid-late 18th century (american/french revolution: seeks to escape oppression (monarchy/ church/ socioeconomic) Counter- enlightenment: claim to knowledge through science instead of divine (king & church power, technology is instrumental: means to end (achieve social justice, early-mid 20th century, technology is progress, the rest will take care of itself . [social/political/cultural/moral: technology becomes inherent: an end in of itself, automation/industrialization/dehumanization of unskilled workers, 1960s-70s to today, realization: not all technology is progress ex.
