Technological Determinism vs. Social Construction of Technology

[@wolfxlover]

Thanks a lot for having published this video! It's very helpful.

[@nehakumari-dh5qx]

Really helpful!

[@TheFamousMockingbird]

I don't think its fair to make any absolute statements when it comes to if technology is good or bad and I certainly don't think the value added to society is comparable between a hammer and things like the internet. The hammer addresses aspects of our core needs as a species, needs that are absolutely fundamental to life. It allowed for the construction of structure that we could use to protect us from elements and danger. The internet has not done that, its value only exists when evaluating it through a specific worldview and making judgement values for what is important and what is not. There are basic things humans really must have before anything else, and the hammer directly relates to one of those. The internet does not, it values things that have been interpreted as important through the lens of certain culture. I think that there has not been any reliable instances of how the internet can be used as a tool for democracy and equality, because you have to go back to who developed it originally and what their intention was, The fact that it was developed as a tool to connect academia with military and research institutions should be very telling of its design intention. It is true that i has been used for research, but the primary and initial development of Arpanet was for the benefit of military and conflict. I also think it is fundamentally important to not divorce technology as being neutral on its own since it is developed by us and we should consider what we have done and do with other technologies that have highly potentially dangerous outcomes. You will see that we seem to not be able to be trusted with things we come up with .

[@amoonbeamk]

social construction depends on perspective. Even if you were to argue a teleological functionalism for technology, it is still neither good or bad. e.g., guns are like canine teeth that evolved to inflict injury. Good and bad are human constructs & do not exist in the natural world.