STS200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Anthropomorphism

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Science, Technology, and Society
• Course: STS200
• Professor: Nathan Kowalsky

Document Summary

Sts 200 lecture 6 january 21 st , 2016. Mythical explanation does not tend toward material mastery of the world . Value ladeness: embodied design value, unintentional technological imperatives, worldview embodiment: we treat the world and ourselves as machines. Technologies can embody worldviews, but also create worldviews: enframement : techno-logic. We solve our tech problems with tech solutions( think of climate change, we automatically create new technologies instead of changing our behaviours, which would seem like we"re regressing and going backwards). Sometimes we also try to solve social problems with technological solutions. The mastery of nature will lead to social liberation: the better tech we have, the better people we"ll be. Technology is a way of thinking: only modern humans think this. We are machines, we"re reducible to particles of matter. Prehistory- is it natural for us to seek mastery of nature? . Myth: includes basically everything that isn"t scientific, including symbolism, ritual, oral culture, metaphor, religion etc.