MIT271b:Technology & Human Values

January 15, 2002

Invention and Luddism

AdministrationEssay option:

one longer essay (7-10pp. 40%) instead of the two short essays (2-3pp. 10% & 5-7pp. 30%)

Tests: not multiple choice Long answer Taken from a list of study questions

distributed in advance

ONTOLOGY:What is technology?Contrast with natureMeans to an end / purposeful /

functional: having a purpose, end, or value for which it is intended or used

Most generally: intended and used to increase freedom and power

Children of Inventionby Morton WinstonTechnology creates new opportunities

for human flourishing and new ways of life, which in turn create new social and ethical problems (“children of invention”)

We will also be considering aesthetic and epistemological problems raised by technology

The Scope of Technology1. End-product: artifacts2. Tools: machines and processes3. Agents: scientists, engineers and

technicians4. Social support: purposeful organization

Technology =df the organization of knowledge, people and things to accomplish specific practical goals

Technological systems consist of …1. Human activity form: techniques and

practices2. Resources, tools & materials3. Artifacts4. Ends/ functions/ valences5. Background knowledge and skills6. Social organization7. NOTE: 4 & 5 provide background to the 4

elements of the scope of technology

1. Human activity formUse of natural objects or toolsProcedural knowledge or “know-how” Increases human capacities and

powers

2. Resource wellOriginal states or natural states that are

acted upon Includes the built environment or

physical infrastructure

3. Artifacts Interaction effect: artifacts may act as

tools and resources for further technology

4. Valences (VALUES)Typical or intended usesMay be independent of actual use of a

particular itemGenerally INSTRUMENTAL VALUE,

serving human needs and desires

5. Knowledge and skillsNecessary backgroundAbout the other aspects:

Resources Techniques Valences Social systems

6. Social contextFor development, distribution and

employment of technologies Includes social artifacts: institutions that

divide and coordinate labourSophisticated cognitive techniques

Technological RevolutionsFrom hunter-gatherer societies requiring

only simple portable technologies for: Shelter Hunting Gathering Cooking Transportation Defense

Agricultural Revolution8000 BC Allowed settled, communities (civilization) Advantages:

More food, so greater population density Greater population density allowed for coordinated efforts

and specialized skills No need for portability

Disadvantages: More work to maintain higher, more complex standard of

living Emergence of morality, law, religion, records,

mathematics, astronomy, class structures, patriarchy

Industrial Revolution1700sSteam engine, then gasoline-driven

combustion engineMore specialized division of labour and

of knowledge — each worker needed fewer skills

Less expensive goods, so increased standard of living

Infrastructure for transportation

Luddites: standard view English workers in

1811-1816, protested the changes of the Industrial Revolution that they felt threatened their jobs

Often destroyed machines.

Ned Ludd Perhaps fictional: Man

who destroyed two large stocking-frames that produced inexpensive stockings undercutting those produced by skilled knitters. Because he was feeble-minded, he was not prosecuted.

A.k.a "King Ludd” and “General Ludd” referred to by luddites (to avoid prosecution?).

Luddites: other views Opposition may not have been to

technological change, but to the free market; luddites wanted to protect their skills and livelihoods

NOW: “luddite” and “luddism” refer to anyone who opposes industrial technology, or technology more generally

E.g. “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski, including bomb sent to Yale computer scientist David Gelernter

Knowledge Revolution20th century Better record keeping and communication Flexible, programmable tools allow more

customized short production runs, so supply can more accurately follow demand

Better scheduling and inventory control provides basis for geographically distributed production systems (globalization)

Increased need for specialized education

Kaczynski: 3 possibilities1. “The human race might easily permit itself to

drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines’ decisions. As society and the problems that fact it become more and more complex and machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions for them, simply because machine-made decisions will bring better results than man-made ones. …

… Eventually, a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently.”

2. A tiny elite will eliminate the rest of humanity.

3. A tiny elite will engineer a purposeless and therefore harmless humanity, like domesticated animals.

Ray Kurzweil: The New Luddite Challenge New jobs are on a higher level and

increasingly involved with education Need a viable alternative to the nightmare

envisioned by luddites such as Kaczynski Can’t drop technology:”there is too little

nature left to return to” Education will reach a human limit, but will be

human competence will be extended by merging with the technology

Evaluating TechnologyDifferent forms of value and relations to

intrinsic value reveal how complicated it is to assess the value of technology

These distinctions may nevertheless help clarify the conflicts among the various costs and benefits of technology.

EPISTEMOLOGY:Technology & Science TRADITIONAL VIEW:

Science = pure, value-free pursuit of knowledge Technology = matter of arts and crafts

MODERN/ENLIGHTENMENT VIEW: Empirical investigation as a means to knowledge,

aided by technology Development of technology aided by scientific

education Science = systematic empirical inquiry Technology = production of functional objects and

systems

AESTHETICS:Technology & Beauty Improved standards of living can include

more leisure time, better access to recreation and pleasant experiences

Greater ease of performing tasks itself is a type of beauty

ETHICS:Technology and MoralityWith power comes responsibility, and a

new range of choices about how we live our lives

Immediate questions raised by biotechnology

4 kinds of ethical concerns arising from technology:

1. Whether and how new technologies should be used (esp. medical)

2. Aggregate responsibility (e.g. pollution, depletion of resources)

3. Distributive justice: certain groups alone may be advantaged

4. Changing relationship to nature and other animals

5 characteristics of technological dangers:

1. Result of aggregate action2. Not direct harms, but increased risks

that are hard to detect3. Impact far into the future4. Affect not only humans but other forms

of life and the environment5. Affect no particular communities, but

all of humanity.