Who Said it
"Technology is neither good nor bad, but its effects are not neutral."
Who is Manuel Castells
In the 1500-1600's, there were 3 historical turning points. What were they?
What is:
1. The reformation
2. The enlightenment
3. Birth of capitalism
Nikola Kondratiev
Who is Nikola Kondratiev?
Nikola Kondratiev tries to understand how the global economy is formed
He could identify the variation of the prices of agriculture over a period of 40-60 years
The world economy lives in waves of 40-60 years, economic boom and then recession
Could observe these patterns, couldn’t explain the booms and busts, and then rebound
Economy had to move over a length of time
Agricultural à industrial à socialist
1929 à market bust, stock market crash in NYC
Worldwide depression
Soviet union is not affected, not part of the global market
Thought that was the end of capitalism, start of socialism
This does not happen
Arrested as traitor to the revolution, was telling Stalin that he was wrong
The labour theories of values links 3 things together.
What is:
1.The workers need for social reproduction. Enough of an income to feed themselves, housing
2.Depending on culture, kind of work --> agricultural, capitalism, in modern times, digital terrorism for the gig economy
3.How wealth is created. How surplus value is used. (Profit). Across economic history, production technology is an important mechanism to generate profit. The ability to produce a product cheaper and faster, reduce the cost of workers (labour costs). Workers want higher wages, owners don’t want to pay them that much. Tension between owners and workers, it’s mediated by technology in the world
Ford Automobiles
What is:
The implementation of taylorism
Introduced the moveable assembly line in 1908
Reduced the time required to build a car from 12 ½ hours à 6 hours
Introduced economies of scale à the more product you produce, the cheaper it becomes to produce the product and sell them
Cars used to be a luxury items, built by a small team
Workers no longer had to know how to do everything with the assembly line
Had to know one or two tasks
Breaks a job down into smaller parts, that’s all you do
Workers used to work 6 ½ days, 10-12 hours. The workers became good at what they’re doing
Workers became instilled, can be a lot of injuries, strain and stress injuries, loss of limbs/fingers
In 1913, ford motor company introduced something radical à to $5/day. This was unheard of in 1913!
Highest wage any worker was making in the US
Compensated workers to do their jobs
Meant that workers on the assembly lines were making a decent way, could afford to buy the product they were making
Created the middle class
Day after they raised their rates, 1000s of people showed up to get a job
Price of a car from 1908 ($850) went down in 1916 ($350), by 1917 price fell below $300
Model C accounted for 50% of all cars sold in the world
Technological singularity
Who is:
The term itself was first used in 1958 by Stanislaw Ulan. Bit it was Vernor Vinge who is the 1990s argued that AI, human biological enhancement or brain-computer interfaces could be possible causes of the singularity. However, it was futurologist Ray Kurzweil who has done the most to bring the singularity meme to the world’s attention via his 2005 book The Singularity is Near. He predicts that it will occur around 2045 writing “The singularity will allow us to transcend the limitations of our biological bodies and brains….There will be no distinction post-singularity between human and machine.” [p. 9]
1960's. Transhumanism
What is
Trans humanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and creating sophisticated technologies to enhance human intellectual, physical and psychological capacities.
Who is Joseph Schumpeter?
Harvard economist
Most important English language economist
Strong believer of the long wave theory approach
Provides an explanation for the economy’s booms and busts
Looks at what occurs in these moments, new technological innovations every 40-60 years that drive each historical wave
The luddite movement
What is:
Luddite was an actual movement in the mid 1800s in England (Nottingham)
Heart of the British industrial revolution
Area had a lot of milling
Workers started to take sledge hammers and attack the factory machinery and in some cases, burn down the factory
What the luddites were protesting was the introduction of technology into the workplace, and the fear that the technology would displace the workers
The mechanical room was seen as a threat to the way of life and their financial existence
Resistance was led by Ned Ludd
Ned Ludd never existed
Political strategy
Same idea of a mythical figure being the embodiment of something (ex. Uncle Sam)
Authorities could never arrest Ned Ludd because they couldn’t find him
Creating a mythical inspirational figure
Forced British government to slow the introduction of mechanical rooms into the factories
Original luddites were not against technology, wanted to slow the introduction down
Technological determinism
What is:
Form of determinism
If something is determinist, its suggesting there are one or two variables that explain everything
Technological determinism - common critique, lead fables, technology becomes the subject of an active ______, the car created suburbia, birth control created the sexual revolution
Mechanical cotton picker lead to the civil war
Historically used to illustrate the debate of: do artifacts have politics?
Who is:
Robert Moses
He was the most powerful urban and city planner in the city and state of NY
Public parks, bridges
Used his position as a designer to re-enforce a particular view of society for decades
Responsible for building public parkways (also out to Long Island, Jersey)
In the design of these parkways that you can see politics in action
Torn down hundred of apartment buildings to build an expressway
Lots of people (10’s of thousands) of Latin, African American heritage had trouble finding affordable housing, poverty rates increased
Short youtube video, 10 reasons why Robert Moses sucks, talks about the effect that he had on the people of Brooklyn
Why did the expressway need to go through that specific area?
Moses had a particular view of NYC, that did not include the working class or racialized groups
Captured in the design of roads and expressways to public roads
Were built so low so that buses could not get underneath
Only people who used cars could get to the beaches
Also proposed electrified bridges
Working class could not afford cars during that time (racialized groups mostly)
Used his position to reinforces segregation, his view of society
He was of Jewish background
1800's
Factory system
Idea of alienation for workers is becoming significant
There was a division
Alienation - do not reap the full benefits or the reward for the product they are making, psychological damage
Third Long Wave
What is:
Late 19th century
3rd long wave, becomes key in the 4th long wave
Factory system becomes key for the American economy
Their system drives wealth of the US into the 20th century
Think of factory system as a form of technology
Way of doing things, a technique
Moving assembly line
What changed during the reformation (1500-1600's)?
What is:
During the reformation, the idea of work changed significantly in Western philosophy
New set of work ethics encouraged individuals to work hard, make profits, and reinvest those profits
This was done for economic development
Work was seen as a type of self fulfilment, not punishment
Individuals begin to define themselves about the type of work they do
Becomes a part of the way to define ourselves
In the reclamation, and the renaissance, human tradition begins to grow
This is creativity
Work itself was fulfilling, liberating activity, constituted the essence of humanity
Only through work, could an individual achieve his or her full human potential
Two broad views of society.
What is:
1.Utopian
Meaning paradise
Good
Comfortable, convenient
Useful
perfect/ideal
Utopia meaning nothing
Seen as a way or a process for progression
2. Dystopian
Negative
Flawed/not perfect
Sees as disrupting the established ways of life
Viewed as a regressive force
Can technology be both at the same time?
Can be based on context
Some people may view it as one or the other
One’s idea behind technology
Technology is control by humans
A socially constructed entity
Patterns of determination is so significant to answer these questions
Holistic and prescriptive technology
Who is: Ursula Franklin
Holistic:
Leaves the user in control of the technology
Prescriptive:
Technology of control
Meant to be used a certain way
Technology as technique- the way of doing things, as culture
Historical materialism. (1847)
What is:
Karl Marx posed the technology driving history question in The Poverty of Philosophy (1847)
Method: historical materialism
The economics fear shapes everything: class, relations, culture, politics, history
Consider: this is a form of determinism
Ie. the needs of the economy determines everything
For Marx, “technology” is often “machinery” or “science”
His view is informed by the forces of production (aka the nature of the economic system)
Technology was a productive force (assembly lines)
The economy evolved from feudalism (agriculture-based) to capitalism (market-based)
Feudalism
Workers = serfs, not quite slaves
Landowners didn’t own the workers, but they controlled their lives
Landowners owned economic tools (agricultural implements)
Hand mill is where landlords took grain to be ground
Capitalism
View of society defined by class
You are either a bourgeoisie
Oppressor, factory owners
Or you are a proletariat
Owns labour power/physicality
workers that sold themselves for a wage
5 Long Waves
What is:
Each wave affected by a key technological development and product
Steam engine - 1st major technological innovation
2nd long wave -Then railway steel - ways to make stronger steel
Revolution in transportation
Electrical engineering chemistry - 3rd long wave
Petrochemical automobiles - automobiles, auto drove the 4th long wave
Information technology - currently in this wave, communication, microchips, phones, social media, internet, gaming industry, AI, virtual reality, animation
What connects them together? All examples of information technology. Even biometrics, rewriting the codes (DNA, RNA, etc.)
Technology drives history
Taylorism
What is:
Organizational theorist
Provides tools for the transition into a modern factory type system
More commonly know as scientific management
Born in Philadelphia
Born into a wealthy family
Quakerism - belief that if you work hard now, you will get the reward
Destined to go to Harvard University
He got severe migraines
His doctor recommended physical labour
Gets a job in a factory, steel mill (scientific management)
Uses the technology of the day à stopwatch
He times the workers as they do their job
Takes photographs of the workers
Trying to find out if could inefficiency be eliminated?
Workers need to work faster and harder
Based on his evidence, produced a series of tables for how long it should take a worker to do any particular task
Purpose was to rationalize production
Increase profit
Interested in micromanagement of industrial employees
Should be more efficient, more productive
Appalled by the conditions
Workers are doing things at their own pace
He believes owners should control the workers
Sets out to design a new work system
Management role was to make sure that “organizational machines’ run as smoothly as possible
Developed five principles for management:
1.Shift responsibility for the organization from workers to management
2.Use technology to determine the most efficient work (stopwatches, etc.)
3.Select the best person/worker to perform the work to be more efficient
4.Use that worker to create all the other workers to do their jobs more efficiently
5.****significant. Monitor worker performance. Modern term --> surveil or use surveillance to make sure the workers are doing their jobs
His principles spread around the world
Only way for workers to buy into this role was to pay them more
Theories of the information society
1.Determinism
Technology is the driving force in history, change, developing the structure of society
Technology directs and shapes interactions
2. Instrumentalism
Analyzes or uses technology as a neutral tool or instrument
Its purpose is to fulfill a user’s specific act
Technology can be either good or bad, depending on the moral intentions of the humans who create them or use them
Technology as a evolutionary process
Without the invention of zero, we would not have binary language, or the language of coding
3. Substantivism
Technology brings about the social or political or economic or cultural systems which the technology then structures or controls
An approach to explain technology during the second world war when the atomic bomb was used to create mass destruction
Author of textbook sides with this theory a lot
4. Critical Theory
Technology is a product of a technical and social
"We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us."
"The medium is the message."
Who is:
Marshall McLuhan
Most famous academics of the 20th century
English professor
Looked at the role of communication technology and how they shape ideas and beliefs
Became famous guest for talk shows
Notorious for quoting short phrases with deep meaning
Protestant reformation. (1600's)
What is:
Protestant Reformation
Encouraged hard work and profits and reinvestment
Work associated with growth of economy
Significance: Basis of capitalist economic development
Renaissance: humanist tradition starts to grow
Views human beings as creators
Work is fulfilling, liberating, constituted essence of humanity
Significance: Work as a form of self-fulfillment, not original sin punishment
Consider: the prevalence of the question of “What do you do?”
Significance: our identities are based on work
6th long wave
What is:
SA: Robotics
SA: Machine learning
SA: New realities
SA: Quantum mechanics/physics
TC: Cyberspace travel/exploration
Many of these things are still transportation or communication technologies, the roots of which we already know about
Consider: new waves build upon previous “waves”
Ie: machine learning augments the information technology
Ie. cyberspace travel augments the role of the steam engine
Take-away: Technology can be evolutionary
Note: some people think each wave gets shorter and shorter
Three perspectives on technology and the body
What is:
Liberation:
Sees technology as liberating women
Perceived as giving women more choices, more flexibility
Technologies of the household, electric irons, vacuum cleaners, washers/dryers, to ease household work
Technology is seen as empowering women
Oppression:
Belief that technology disempower women, leave them with fewer choices
Become more dependable on existing technology
Example: fertility
How would fertility technology liberate/empower women?
Control over reproduction or reproduction rights
How would fertility technology oppress women?
Intended or unintended consequences
Technologies were designed by men and make women subject to the men’s design
Many of the reproductive technologies (ex. Invitro) are very expensive, $25, 000 for one treatment. May take 4-5 treatments
Lower or lower-middle class could not afford this treatment
Invitro often leads to multiple births (triplets, etc.), must be able to afford treatment and children
Body _______. Does not take into consideration the person’s ethnicity, body size, gender characteristics
Not all bodies are the same
Inclusion:
Suggesting that women need to have greater integration into the technology that they are not just using, but being the creators of the technologies
Lots of engineering programs have women in technologies section to encourage women, offer mentors, to encourage women to take a career in engineering
Active engagement is required for the gender gap to be eliminated
There have been a number of studies that have looked at how men and women use the same technology differently
Famous one: women and men use computers far differently. Women use email, social media. Men are more engaged in writing codes, or playing online games.
In medicine, invention of forceps by Scottish appocritary, William Smelly, to perform C-section on women after death
Used to deliver the child after the mother/child or both have died
British parliament determined that only male doctors could legally forceps in delivering children
Forceps contributed to male contribution in childbirth
Midwifery decreased
Birthing moved from home to hospital
Midwifery had been an important source of employment for older women whose husbands have died
Outcome was that midwives lost their monopoly on childbirth
Midwives were not allowed in hospitals until 19….
1974
Sociology of _________
Anne Oakley
Set out to test the hypothesis: did advanced household technology decrease or increase the workload of women?
Mental shift in societal view of housework
Electric irons, washers/dryers, vacuums should decrease work
Oakley’s findings were that they increased work
Sounds counterintuitive
Created new societal expectations around cleanliness
Electric vacuums - houses were expected to be cleaned more often
Instead of liberating women, Oakley argues that technology alienated women by resulting in more work
Household work became more labour intensive after these inventions
Became more privatized
Behind closed doors, not hanging laundry outside to dry, or river where other women were cleaning clothes
Social reproduction - women were acknowledge or paid for the work they did in the homes
Technologies are often presented as neutral objects as though they are not designed with a specific gender or person in mind.
What is:
The bicycle.
(Left) is a pedicycle, 6 ft off the ground
Designed as a vehicle for sports
The bike was designed was such that it was not intended for women to ride
Women wearing skirts, it would get caught in the spokes of the wheel
Also elevated 6 ft above the ground, people could look up their skirts
Men wore sporting gear
Invention of the safety bike a few years later
Cycling became available for both men and women
Not just for sport, but as a form of transportation and entertainment
Bike as a technology, as an artifact and design was not designed for women
The new design can let women use it
Technologies are often presumed of impacting men and women equally.
Debates of gender issues are only initiated after the design, instead of encompassing it in all aspects of design