Do artifacts have politics
The assignment of political power to the artifacts of technology has been a point of controversy over whether the deployment of certain kinds of technology leads a society in predictable directions. Current arguments state that nuclear power leads to an authoritative system; solar energy to freedom and social equity. To state that the physical arrangements and infrastructures associated with specific technologies change how political power is exercized leads to the theory that the technologies, themselves, have political properties. Recent interest, however, in the theory of technological politics points out the momentum of large-scale socio-technical systems and the subsequent adaptation of human goals. Two ways in which technical artifacts can contain political properties are described: (1) a technical device or system is used to settle a community issue, and (2) man-made systems requiring or compatible with certain types of political relations. Examples are given to illustrate the two varieties of interpretation. Disputes often center on which interpretation is taken and are complicated by frequent overlapping. Society needs to pay more attention to understanding which technologies are important, and why, before justifying drastic social changes to technological innovation on political grounds. 28 references. (DCK)
- Research Organization:
- Mass. Inst. of Tech., Cambridge
- OSTI ID:
- 5525771
- Journal Information:
- Daedalus; (United States), Vol. 109:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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