Media, Information and Technoculture 2500A/B Study Guide - Final Guide: Gestell, Langdon Winner, Sociotechnical System
6 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Common misconceptions about the meaning of technology include: Issue: claim that the machines, structures, and systems of modern material culture can be accurately judged for the ways which they can embody specific forms of power and authority. Social determination of technology theory: what matters is not technology itself, but the social/economic system in which it"s embedded: you have to look at the social circumstances of their development, deployment, and use. Technological change expresses a panoply of human motives, not the least of which is the desire of some to have dominion over others. Some technologies can be used in ways that enhance power, authority, and privilege over others i. e. the use of tv to sell products. The point of gestell: to store us replacements (demand of gestell) Gestell drives people to create an ever-expanding system of consumption and utility that collects and alters the materials of nature into a surplus of homogenous supplies, bestand.
