The Future of Technological Civilization (original) (raw)

The Democratic Shaping of Technology: Its Rise, Fall and Possible Rebirth

Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, 2021

In the 2020 Prague Virtual Conference of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), Langdon Winner was awarded the society’s John D. Bernal Prize jointly with Sharon Traweek. The Bernal Prize is awarded annually to individuals who have made distinguished contributions to the field of STS. Prize recipients include founders of the field of STS, along with outstanding scholars who have devoted their careers to the understanding of the social dimensions of science and technology. This essay comprises Winner’s acceptance speech and is followed by a short postscript written in 2021. The postscript captures a brief reflection on the upheavals of the COVID-19 pandemic and the US election results which shifted the US to a Biden administration. In their award statement, the Bernal Prize committee noted: “Winner’s most cited article “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” of 1980 has inspired a wide spectrum of critique and analysis of technological arrangements as, among other things, political or...

Technology and Democracy… You Can't Get There from Here [Wide Angle]

2010

T his publication, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, look at "the social implications of technology." It is an example of what most professional journals do: they look outward to understand the wider world of which electronics and electrical engineers are a part. It is my belief that Technology and Society should also include the perspectives of non-engineers, looking back at the profession. It should challenge engineering assumptions with other perspectives, running in parallel or even orthogonal to IEEE, and this is what I will try to do in this occasional column. Many discussions of the social context of technology begin with an innovation and ask about its social implications. This linear approach seems logical, but implies that society lags technology in its ability to understand or absorb technology. Additional parameters are added to the technology until the engineers or the economic system runs out of patience, or deems them too remote to be considered. I submit that technology and society are in an inevitable tension, because they operate according to different principles, and that the linear approach cannot capture this tension. At its root, technology, like science, is based on an elite process that rewards specialized knowledge and skill, whereas a society and its democratic aspirations are based upon a mass process that seeks equality and fairness, but not necessarily knowledge. The two do not operate under the same rules, and thus are hard to integrate in practice, because they are spoken about in two different languages. A discussion of the impacts of technology on the poor or minorities, for example, can be salutary for engineering practice. Such a discussion leads to defi ning new parameters that might be included in conventional practice. Dimensions such as low initial cost, simple designs and ease of repair,

Technology and Human Values © Meenakshie Verma

April, 2021

"According, to the Greek myth, Prometheus, a human, stole the secret of technology from the Gods. The head of the gods, Zeus, then made all humanity suffer for Prometheus' audacity and rebellion against the natural order of things. In one version of the myth, he sent down Pandora's Box, which, when opened, let escape all the evils of the world. Thus, suffering and unhappiness were the price humans had to pay for their theft of the god-like powers of technology. The ancient Greeks argued that whoever possessed a Techne had to be socially responsible. Both Plato and Aristotle stated that, for the social order to be maintained, it is mandatory that an individual must also practice Techne for the benefit of social, not exclusively for, oneself." Along, with economic and financial needs-across cultures, people have layers of social, cultural, ecological and psychological requirements-which must be met for optimal performance and complete their assigned tasks. In the course of action people often need reliable sources of motivation, self determination and positive personal growth. The process of identifying these sources and channelizing them has to be done and continued. Moreover, these ideas have to be introduced in early stages of social and professional life. During the past years there has been a concern shown towards inclusion of liberal arts education for the technology students. In particular for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Medical) related branches. Usually, technological education has miniscule or no emphasis on liberal arts and humanities themes. By and large technology and liberal arts are segregated domains of study. Irrefutably, technical streams produce significant numbers of quality technocrats, bureaucrats, medical professionals and engineers every year. Besides, such individuals are capable of solving technical problems in their chosen fields. However, quite often they find it difficult to effectively maintain a qualitative balance between technology, society, culture, human values, ecological concerns and sustainable development. Evidently, for the technology students the huge segregation between their education and other systems of knowledge does not provide enough opportunities to explore, human values, socio-cultural deposits and means of sustainable and inclusive development. As a consequence, the experts in various technology and engineering fields have a skewed understanding of priorities, structures and needs of the society, livelihood patterns also, subversive economic trends.

Engineering the Future, Understanding the Past. A Social History of Technology

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owners and the authors of the book. Every efffort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. Contents Preface Introduction: Engineering for a Changing World Lessons from engineering history: Society, Enterprise, Users Technology: Dream and nightmare Engineering for a changing world The structure of this book 2 The Age of Crisis, 1914-1945 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Society Peace and war Prosperity and decline Liberty and enslavement Civilization and barbarism 2.3 Enterprise Business and bankruptcy Patent wars Worker nightmares 2.4 Users Access and accidents Users and misusers 2.5 Engineers Hero and villain Engineers in totalitarian regimes A new hope 3 The Age of Technocracy, 1945-1970 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Society Making technology non-political: The linear model of innovation Making politics technical: A systems approach to societal challenges 3.3 Enterprise The heyday of R&D The linear model in practice: organizational challenges Systems approaches in business planning 3.4 Users Consumer appliances in the age of "projected users" Projected users in the built environment Users and the systems approach: the car-centered city 3.5 Engineers Growth in influence and numbers Theory and science Professional independence and ethical codes The tide turns 4 The Age of Participation, 1970-2015 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Society Opening up the system Participation by protest Participation by mediation Participation by delegation 4.3 Enterprise Flipping the linear model of innovation Commercializing research and open innovation User-centered innovation Corporations under social pressure 4.4 Users Energetic user-tinkerers Mobility and "biketivists" Hacktivists and other users 4.5 Engineers Opening up institutions Opening up engineering curricula Participation: Science shops and the valorization of knowledge Epilogue: Engineering the Future Diffferent societal challenges Challenges to enterprise and users Beyond technocracy and participation Notes References Illustration credits Index

Reconnecting technological development with human welfare

Futures, 2014

Many observers see advances in technology as the key means for ensuring continued economic growth, and with it human progress as well. In particular, three modern technologies-biotechnology, information technology (sometimes including robotics and cognitive technologies) and nanotechnology-are seen by some researchers as converging and thus bringing about unprecedented benefits for humanity in the coming decades. The aim of this paper is to answer the question: can the on-going rapid advances in these new technologies lead to a better future for all? By examining three important sectors-transport, health/medicine, and agriculture/food-we show that application of these technologies are either largely irrelevant, too expensive, or too risky to meet the future needs of all humans in these sectors.