Autonomous Technology: Technics-out-of-Control as a Theme in Political Thought Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is simply the best introduction to the philosophy and politics of technology. No competition.
Winner discusses a wide range of literature on the subject, from authors such as Jacques Ellul, Marx, Heidegger, and others. He uses these ideas as a springboard to cover many of the ideas they brought up with much more depth and clarity.
Some of the most interesting ideas discussed include (amongst others):
* "Reverse adaptation" -- when technologies force us to modify our ends/goals/purposes in order to meet the needs of our means/tools/techniques
* "Technological imperative" -- how technology changes the structure of human societies, even before they have been put into use (e.g. in order to create an environment conducive to their use)
* "Neutrality" -- Winner smashes the myth of tools being "neutral" (the idea that tools can't be inherently good or bad, and that only the way they are *used* can be good/bad)
Don't be put off by the fact that the book was originally published back in the 1970s -- the ideas are every bit as applicable (much more so actually...) today as they were then.
Highly recommended.

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The truth of the matter is that our deficiency does not lie in the wantof well-verified "facts." What we lack is our bearings. The contemporary experienceof things technological has repeatedly confounded our vision, our expectations, andour capacity to make intelligent judgments. Categories, arguments, conclusions, andchoices that would have been entirely obvious in earlier times are obvious nolonger. Patterns of perceptive thinking that were entirely reliable in the past nowlead us systematically astray. Many of our standard conceptions of technology reveala disorientation that borders on dissociation from reality. And as long as we lackthe ability to make our situation intelligible, all of the "data" in the world willmake no difference. ;From the Introduction

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Technics and Civilization Review

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(More customer reviews)Lewis Mumford is widely regarded as a critic of architecture, but his true importance in intellectual history is as a critic of technology and the myth of progress that accompanies technology, making it seem as if every technological advance is a step forward in civilization. That the events from 1945 onward dispute this claim would seem evident, but themselves are brushed over in favor of the prevailing paradigm.
Mumford was the first to take a critical look at technology and its accompanying mythos, and even though this book was later surpassed by his masterpiece, The Myth of the Machine, it is still worth reading for its approach to the tenor of its time (written during the Depression).
You can safely ignore the last chapters when Mumford attempts to offer an alternative to the technological society. Like most critics, he is mercifully short on alternatives. (Considering what alternatives were given humanity over the centuries, you can understand why I said that.) Until we truly understand technology and the role it has taken in our lives, we will be no closer to a solution than Mumford was in the Thirties.
For anyone who wishes to study the intellectual history of the West, this is an indispensible volume.

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