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Effects of modern technology in our society
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现代西方技术哲学 第8章作业 2015080103 金延燮 Q. 试基于案例分析说明你对技术与社会之间关系的认识? The human society of the 21st century cannot be separated from technology. Technology and society are becoming more and more correlated and co-dependent as time flows. It has been long since digital devices became an essential part of our daily lives, and humans have started to interact with technological software for a while. This relationship between technology and society can be viewed from two different perspectives. One theory is called technological determinism (技术决定论), which dictates that technology determines a society’s cultural values, social structure, and the progress of its civilization. On the other side lies the social construction of technology (社会建构论), which argues …show more content…
It incorporates the idea that the development of technology follows a regular and predictable path which in turn affects the direction of social development. Technological determinism can be classified into two categories: Hard determinism and Soft determinism. The first one, hard determinism, claims that technology produces powerful forces that control humans’ social activity and its meaning. Technology is an absolutely independent factor in that the outcome of technological forces are beyond humans’ control, and we do not have the freedom to make a choice regarding them. Thus, technology is superior to other sorts of social concerns. Meanwhile, soft determinism is a rather moderate and passive point of view of technological forces. Advocates of soft determinism do concede that technology is the leading force in society’s development, but they also insist that technology is a relatively autonomous factor. As such, humans still possess the chance and right to make decisions regarding technological outcomes in the socioeconomic environment. As a result, technology is not considered as the sole factor that propels social …show more content…
The social construction of technology holds that the path of technological development is more or less shaped by society itself. In other words, political decisions, economic allocations, and social arrangements influence the direction of technological progress. The framework of the social construction of technology is mainly based on the pessimism towards technology and science from the mid-20th century. In the early 20th century, humanity saw how evil technology could become by human manipulation. The brutal human experimentations committed by the Nazi and Japanese troops and the use of biochemistry medicine and nuclear energy as weapons of mass destruction revealed how humans could exploit technology to attain inhumane goals. As world leaders began emphasizing the need to control the course of technological development, some scholars began to suggest the social construction of technology theory in contradiction of the conventional technological determinism
The topic of technology and our society has become a very controversial subject today. Many people believe that technology is an essential component of our modern world, helping us to improve communication from farther distances as well as giving us easy access to important information. On the other hand, there is the opinion that too much technology is affecting social interactions and our basic development. “Technology…is a queer thing, it brings you great gifts with one hand, and stabs you in the back with the other.” (Carrie Snow.) The CBC Documentary “Are We Digital Dummies” displayed the pros and cons when it comes to modern technology that we use in the western world everyday.
Technology is supposed to be seen as such an advancement and great accomplishment. What others may not always know is sometimes it isn’t all fun and games, it can be dangerous. As seen when we created the atomic bomb and guns, their only purpose is to destroy and cause pain to others. Although they are not always in use, they are a constant threat to our well being. We need to take into consideration the positives and the negatives of the technology we create today.
According to this theory, if determinism is correct, based any individuals past and prior experiences there is only one future that is possible for that particular individual. There are two different types of determinism: Hard determinism and Soft determinism. Both types of determinism have the same principles; that every action that happens in an individual’s life is determined on a physical level and that all life events are determined by previous life events.
Soft determinism attempts to make the disagreeing data of determinism and freedom compatible. The theory of soft determinism rests on three fundamental claims: (1) the deterministic concept that human behaviour is causally determined; (2) that there is freedom in voluntary behaviour, so long as there is no physical impediment or constraint upon the action; and (3) that the cause of the voluntary behaviour (which is possible in the absence of impediments or constraints) is an internal state of the agent of the action. According to soft determinism, therefore, we are responsible for our actions on o...
Working thesis: The advancements in technology have caused the social norms of society to adapt to its rapid change, by becoming captivated to its simple access; which is effecting the way we communicate and act.
Technological determinism according to Winston is that the diverse forms of technology become the basis of society in which social change and development are shaped by technology. The consequences of technology have a powerful impact on the society that individuals and social interactions develop as technology accelerates. Cultural determinism, on the other hands, is the idea that technology has transformed out of sociocultural contexts such as social, economic, and cultural forces. In other words, rather than a technology’s own trajectory, every aspect of social processes have developed technology.
Determinism being applied to us would be considered cause and effect. Our actions are programmed by genetic predispositions and the messages of socialization. A humans actions and behavior reflects that persons doing the best he or she can. It is assumed that everything that happens to a person happens because of the presence of necessary and sufficient conditions or antecedent variables. Determinist perspective believes that there is an order to human life based on scientific and logical principles by which specific manifestations of human behavior are necessary outcomes of existing preconditions. Soft determinist is the position or view that casual determinism is true but we still act as free morally responsible agents when in the absence of external constraints our actions are caused by
Through several articles and discussions, much of the evidence point towards technological determinism. Technological determinism is a theory composed by Thorstein Veblen, an American economist and sociologist. It is a theory believed to connect technology and cultural value. This theory presumes that technology advances the evolving of society’s social structure and cultural values. The opposing theory is social construction of technology.
Technology allows culture to evolve by creating solutions to problems by removing constraints that exist. Every invention and concept is expanded on to create the utmost perfect solution. Although this process can take decades, or even centuries, to actually develop a proficient resolution, the end result is what advances society industrially. There are conflicting views, however, if these advances are beneficially or maliciously affecting society (Coget). There are three kinds of people in regards to the attitude toward technology: technophiles, technophobes, and those who aren't biased in either regard (Coget). Technophiles understand that the world adapts to the advances in technology and uses them to improve their lives (Tenner). Technophobes observe technology as damaging or are uncomfortable in using it (DeVany). It is undeniable that technology is ever-expanding, thus peaking curiosity to uncover what fuels the fear behind the technophobes. Our focus is concentrated on the technophiles and the technophobes . I will begin with the latter as they contribute greatly to the ov...
...values “technical codes,” but his view contrasts with that of Heidegger and the like, in that he believes these values are not inherent to the technologies themselves, but instead reflect a particular historical system of values—the values of the elite. Because critical theory of technology views the presence of values within technology as not being inherent, fixed, and unchanging, technology and technological systems can be adopted to reflect a better, truer, freer modern industrial society. In proposing a model in which technology represents a constantly evolving entity that can be reconstructed to serve human needs and goals, Feenberg seeks to avoid the undeveloped optimism of the instrumental perspective and the unyielding determinism of the substantive view. As such, a critical theory of technology, suggests a much less determined model. For Feenberg, society
Technological determinism comes in different forms. For some, such as the late French scholar Jacques Ellul (1965, 1980, 1990), technology is the most powerful force in modern life, moving according to its own logic, and well beyond the control of humans. Others, such as political theorist Langdon Winner (1977, 1986), assert that tech...
Technology determinism can be thought as a theory of social change through technology itself. Andreas Hepp and Friedrich Krotz (2014, p. 110) discusses theorists have limited and avoid themselves on the argument on technology fearing there may be an indication of technological determinism. Furthermore, to suggest modern technology plays an insignificant role in mediation, as mediation is not bound by the modern technology but is subject to how society tends to communicate. Hepp and Krotz (2014, p. 111) further discloses the contradiction of their summary that the future will have objects that will interact intelligently and it will be difficult to determine the difference between such intelligent objects to those of living. A curious fact is that, society will raise questions which idealise and
The standard 21 year old adults have exchanged 250 thousand emails, spent 5 thousand hours video gaming and 10 thousand hours using their mobile devices (Lei, 2009). When people hear the word technology, they think of microwaves, televisions, cars, NASA, different types and transportation and more. For all that, technology has occurred long ahead these discoveries. Technology is an arguable matter amongst people. .In the old days, people lived an extremely simple life without technology. They used candles to light their houses and lanterns at the dark to travel, they used fire to cook and used newspapers and mail to share news. On the other hand, technology has seized an important place in our society. People are living in a stage of progressive technology. They are using all natural reserves applicable for making their lives better and easier. The society cannot picture life without electricity since it allows them to live through their everyday life. This paper argues that technology positively impacts people’s lives.
In the 21st century, we live in the era of technology-driven world. Humans never stopped the development of technology, because we always have a natural tendency to pursue a higher level of human being. Technology is the best evidence of human intelligence, which has shown that we are different from other animals. We have lived with technology since we were born. Although it has intervened heavily in our daily lives that we can’t no longer live without, nobody can deny the achievements it has brought to us.
The first area where technology and society relates most is communication. People in a society must pass information from one person to another to maintain order. Traditionally, information dissemination was done using inefficient methods such as the messengers and would take long time before it reached to the intended recipient depending on the distance. Technological advancement that resulted in introduction of more efficient means of communication such as mobile phones and computers led to contextualization of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This had a direct impact on the society as now information could be disseminated amongst a larger group and in the contemporary wo...