Authoritarian Technologies In The Whale And The Reactor

Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld are the authors of the article “The Influencing Machines”. This article is about technology and is written through a comic-style form. Gladstone’s main idea on this article is that we should not fear technology. Gladstone’s and Neufeld’s comic-style article about technology is the best way to convey her argument because it gives visuals to express her argument, has a different form of arrangement of her details and thesis, and she gives examples of modern technology that should not scare us.

Leo Marx, once a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Harvard graduate, wrote an article titled “Technology The Emergence of a Hazardous Concept”. In this article, the author explores the modern day definition of the word technology and argues that technology offers too broad of a definition and is ill fitting to describe all technical advancements and their creators. Technology can be defined as the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science (dictionary.com). On the other hand, it can

Chapter two begins with an intriguing question. Does technology control us? The answer, it depends who you are. Again Nye provides many stories to discuss the question. He talks about current advances that many people would have a difficult time imagining not having or using. To contrast this, he gives examples of societies that chose to reject advances in technology. He includes the examples of Japan’s rejection of guns, and religious groups such as the Amish or Mennonites, who carefully consider the effects of any technology on their society before adopting it. He points out that a common view is that mechanical systems are deterministic or inevitable. However, there are several beliefs that counter that including Werner Sombart

Technology has always been a controversial subject between conservative people and innovators. Some people believe that it is a great tool to connect cultures and improve education and innovation in our society today, but others view it as a menace in our lives. “Growing Up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle and “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg” by Lori Andrews both view technology as a dangerous tool. They believe in the many drawbacks of technology and the harm it can do to our lives with no explanation of the positive effects it has had on our society. “Our Future Selves” by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen plays the role of a positive look at technology and its role in our lives today. It gives examples of how advancing technology helps us and improves so many peoples’s lives. We can use Schmidt and Cohen’s essay as a lens to view the other two texts and gain a different understanding of what they are writing about.

W asks, Can technology "embody specific forms of power and authority" (19). He reviews the ideas of Kropotikin, Morris Hayes, Lillienthal, Boorstein and Mumford on his way to answering his question. For example, Hayes states that "deployment of nuclear power facilities must lead society toward authoritarianism" because of safety concerns (19-20). W believes "that technical systems of various kinds are deeply interwoven in the conditions of modern politics [and further, that the] physical arrangements of industrial production, warfare, communications, and the like have fundamentally changed the exercise of power and the experience of citizenship" (20). Indeed, "human ends are powerfully transformed as they are adapted to technical means" (21).

The objective of this paper is to discuss Langdon Winners theory on the politics of technology. In his book "The Whale and the Reactor" Langdon Winner asks the question "Do artifacts have politics?". That question has provoked many to look for different dimensions of technology. Winner argues that technologies hold specific forms of power and authority and that they should be taken seriously as their own political phenomena. According to him technological innovations are similar to legislative acts or political foundings, which

This quote derived from Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld's “The Influencing Machines”, voices the anxiety that other people feel when being introduced to new products and how they could destroy society overtime. It gives us insight as to what trends are helping the people vs. the one’s that aren’t. Take the fidget spinner, this product was created for kids with ADHD as a means to alleviate stress and help them stay still, but as its popularity increased so did its use with children who do not have ADHD. The use of it in schools has led it to being banned in some states such as: Florida, Illinois, New York and Virginia. This quote suggests that society will concede to outside influences and will be utterly lost to the point where they are

There are many different stances one could take on the subject “Unimpeded technological progress is good for society.”. One could agree with Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, and Bradbury’s The Veldt and claim that technology is dangerous and will inevitably fall into the wrong hands one day. Another stance would be with Spike Jonze’s Her, which brings forth the opinion that technology is both good and bad. Finally, one’s opinion could lie with George Saunder’s “Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz” and claim technology is a good thing. While I can see where both Saunders and Kubrick are coming from, my own opinion is more closely represented by Jonze. I believe that technology can be both good and bad, and that its rapid growth can be both helpful and harmful to those around us.

Arnold Pacey published Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand Year History in the year 1991. Arnold Pacey was an associate lecturer at The Open University in Britain as well as an author to three additional books: Meaning in Technology, The Maze of Ingenuity, The Culture of Technology. He published all four of his books within a ten-year span. Arnold Pacey was trained as an engineer but is well known as a historian of technology because of the conclusions he drew of society and technology and their relationship. Society is defined as the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. Technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. Technology influences every aspect of our lives today, but we often forget that it profoundly affected the lives of past generations dating back to the beginning of civilization. Perhaps not to today’s extent, but the impact was still dramatic. New inventions or innovations produced more food, created new processes and tools, made life easier and made war more devastating. This course traces the evolution of technology and its impact on civilization from the creation of elementary tools up to today’s latest devices and even looks into future technologies.

With the ever growing technology our world has in store, and how it has always been seen as beneficial, this books shows how technology cannot always be beneficial. “Huxley is trying to

Technology is too much for humans too handle. Humans are do not have the ability to handle technology in a mature way. Technology makes us believe that the quantity of life over the quality of life is worth more and we rely our everyday activities and duties on technology. Life support, mechanicalized emotions, manufactured organs, and medicines are technology based essentials that keep Sylvia alive in the sci-fi story “Fortitude”. Dr.Norbert Frankenstein

Brave New World, a novel written by Aldous Huxley in the early 1930’s, paints a picture of society willingly controlled by technology and the state; the science-fiction/dystopian setting paired with the ideological convictions of major characters within the novel presents Huxley’s ironic, yet thought provoking take on the direction of society. The novel, in essence, asks two questions. At what point do the benefits of technology subtract from the way one perceives others and oneself as individuals? And if a government possesses and abuses that power, at what point does one become a byproduct of government technology rather than an individual? Often compared to George Orwell’s 1984, Brave New World provides a very different interpretation of

As we progressed through the course, Modern World, the students were able to see various incidences of how technology either enhanced or deteriorated a civilization or a nation. One of the primary reads in the course was Headrick’s book, Power over Peoples. It is important to look at Headrick’s work and see just what is meant by his title, Power Over People. From what students have gathered, this means the use of technology as a means to gain an edge over another civilization, hence, using your power or technology to dominate another group of people. Furthermore, it is important to note just what is meant by the term “technology.” According to Headrick, technology is “all the ways in which humans use materials and energy in the

Technology is everywhere! Throughout the history of mankind, we have been developing products to make situations more accessible, reliable, and easy. Technology has played a significant role in our everyday lives. A novel written by George Orwell, 1984, is a treacherous book filled with hatred and constant surveillance. Many of the citizens are scared into loyalty.

Technological determinism is a term developed by Marshal McLuhan, a theorist in the study of new media. By technological determinism, McLuhan refers to technology having the power to change societies and influence our cultures. In this essay I will argue that technology does have the power to change society and influence a civilization, using ideas put forward by Marshal McLuhan. I will also discuss the debate around technological determinism recognizing the claims made by Raymond Williams that society shapes technology as we look back at its emergence and their subsequent control.