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Commentary
Published in Alexander Peine, Barbara L. Marshall, Wendy Martin, Louis Neven, Socio-gerontechnology, 2021
Lastly, the third theme relates to techno-solutionism for later life and its underlying postulations about technology, innovation and ageing. As Bischof and Jarke note, this solutionism sees technology as an easy fix or solution for social problems (see also Morozov 2014), resting on assumptions of technological determinism. Technological determinism frames technology as the sole motor of social change, neglecting a variety of social, political, economic and agentic dimensions (Wyatt 2008). Despite being simplistic, this understanding informs popular, academic, design and policy narratives about technology (Mauthner and Kazimierczak 2018). Techno-solutionism also tends to overpromise or overstate automation, mechanised decision-making and technological independence, while obfuscating the role of human agents (Silva 2000). But there is also a form of ‘ageing determinism’ in innovation approaches: because ageing continues to be mostly perceived as a problem or deficit, or a minority surplus when it is ‘successful’, techno-solutionism promotes an epistemic reductionism of ageing and its interplay with technology. As Östlund and Frennert demonstrate, representations of older people in relation to technology have not changed much over time. However, later life does not precede technology; in fact, ageing and technology shape each other through co-created images, practices, affordances and circumstances (Peine 2019).
Un-making artificial moral agents
Published in Wendell Wallach, Peter Asaro, Machine Ethics and Robot Ethics, 2020
Deborah G. Johnson, Keith W. Miller
Another way to see the problem here is to return to our earlier discussion of technological development. Sullins presumes a version of technological determinism, that is, he presumes that technological development follows a natural order of development unaffected by social and political forces and human choices. The STS critique of technological determinism is that technological development is contingent; it is influenced by a wide range of social, political, economic and cultural and historical factors. Sullins fails to recognize how the debate about the significance of autonomous computer systems reflects and will shape the meaning and the design of computer systems. In adopting this technologically deterministic view, Sullins and others hide the power that is being exerted by a variety of interest groups. There are enormous amounts of money, time, and effort being invested in the development of autonomous systems and the money, time, and effort is being invested by groups that have specific, distinctively human interests in mind – more sophisticated and effective weapons, more global and efficient markets, less crime and terrorism, faster response times, etc. Ignoring the interests of these powerful interest groups, the Computational Modelers push for a conception of computer systems that is compatible with these interests. Attributing moral agency to computer systems simply hides those groups and their interests.
Understanding law and technology
Published in Riikka Koulu, Law, Technology and Dispute Resolution, 2018
McLuhan’s technological determinism considers technological artefacts as ‘extensions of man’, where the form of technology itself has more fundamental influence on human behaviour than the message that is related through technology.77 It follows from this ‘extension thesis’, as it is called by Lister et al.,78 that McLuhan does not make a distinction between the terms ‘media’ and ‘technology’; both are extensions of our senses, tools in our hands. In a famous example McLuhan depicts how the simple technology of light bulb has transformed society by creating a new environment, i.e. the use of night-time for activities, although the bulb itself is empty of content, it is merely the medium. Similarly, he claims that the impact of television on society does not depend on the content of television shows, i.e. the influence is identical regardless of whether the shows are children’s shows or illustrated violence.79 The strong suit of technological determinism is that it brings the disruptive element of ICTs to the front by considering the emergence of new media as a fundamental change of society. Shortcomings of technological determinism boil down to its lack of sociological sensitivity. McLuhan’s position is not interested in sociological analysis of power relations, wealth, and social norms present in technology. Hence, Williams’s critique hits a spot as he brings attention to McLuhan’s reductionist overtone where the complicated social history of the media is brought down simply to their effects.80
Governing gene-edited crops: risks, regulations, and responsibilities as perceived by agricultural genomics experts in Canada
Published in Journal of Responsible Innovation, 2023
Sarah-Louise Ruder, Milind Kandlikar
A co-productionist conceptualization of technology goes beyond the material artifacts to include the ways of knowing and being they engender. Our study understands technologies as complex and multi-directional interfaces of ecological, technical, social, political, and economic systems. The implications of technologies are not pre-determined or inherent to artifacts. In other words, this research challenges technological determinism – the pervasive assumptions that technology is autonomous and outside of society, technologists are merely applying science through a linear relationship, and technological change causes social change unidirectionally (MacKenzie and Wajcman 1985). We use technological determinism as a analytical tool to illuminate the assumptions and values influencing understandings of technology and the extent to which technological change is viewed as autonomous and inevitable or impacting and impacted by social systems (Dafoe 2015; Markham 2021).
Digital Nomos and the new world order: towards a theological critique of Silicon Valley
Published in Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society, 2021
These different lines of thought all share certain features: the creed of deregulation, free market, substantivism and technological determinism, libertarianism and individualism. In short, Silicon Valley’s narrative claims that technologies should be launched on the market, exempt from any regulation and intervention, and be made freely available. In turn, technological progress is equated to a natural phenomenon such as an earthquake or a tornado, in other words, it is inevitable. The beneficiaries of these technologies are autonomous, rational individuals who exercise their rights and liberties. Thus, improvement of the species will be achieved via countless individual decisions, which will lead to collective benefit. This conceptual framework also implies that social and political change occurs as a result of technological change, which is a clear expression of technological determinism. Therefore, despite its revolutionary, groundbreaking rhetoric, the politics underlying this worldview is clearly conservative, since it argues that introducing new technologies suffices to change society. In other words, there is no need for institutional, cultural, economic or power structure changes. This worldview leads us to another important aspect, which is the fetish for new technologies. This commitment to novelty is a core value in the Siliconian world.