EST 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Thorstein Veblen, Dark Web, Technological Determinism
14 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Week 2 (2/5/2018)
●Reflection
○The internet has the potential to grant power and freedom to the masses-but that
power and freedom aren’t always equally distributed.
■Think about some of the examples from last week in regards to
cyberbullying, catfish, and the darkweb.
●Reinventing that which already exists
○Technology’s future will most likely be the reinvention of the technology we used
to use or deal with currently
■This is a small look back at the first week’s lecture on technology’s
definition
●Is anything new really that new?
○Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a society’s
technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
○The term is believed to have been coined by Thorstein Veblen, an American
sociologist and economist.
●The other end
○Social determination is a belief in the central nature of people in the
decision-making process technology can be seen as flexible to meet the needs of
“relevant social groups”.
○Social determinist argue that society shapes technology, not the other way around.
People, cultures and society have needs.
○A technology must fill the need, or perceived need if it is going to grow in a
culture. Some of these needs are not necessarily those of the entire culture or
society, but perhaps simply a portion.
●The middle
○Psychologists who take the free will view suggest that determinism removes
freedom and dignity, and devalues human behavior. By creating general laws of
behavior, deterministic psychology underestimates the uniqueness of human
beings and their freedom to choose their own destiny.
●The Microcosm Lecture
○The technology-driven economy greatly favors a small group of successful
individuals by amplifying their talent and luck, and dramatically increasing their
reward.
●Science and Technology Introduction
○Science
Document Summary
The internet has the potential to grant power and freedom to the masses-but that power and freedom aren"t always equally distributed. Think about some of the examples from last week in regards to cyberbullying, catfish, and the darkweb. Technology"s future will most likely be the reinvention of the technology we used to use or deal with currently. This is a small look back at the first week"s lecture on technology"s definition. Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a society"s technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values. The term is believed to have been coined by thorstein veblen, an american sociologist and economist. Social determination is a belief in the central nature of people in the decision-making process technology can be seen as flexible to meet the needs of. Social determinist argue that society shapes technology, not the other way around.
