17 Aug Marshall McLuhan argues that technology that delivers the message changes us, society, individuals, work, leisure, and perhaps how we experience the world.

We have covered two crucial concepts in technology: technological determinism and sociological determinism. A quick recap of these two concepts:

Marshall McLuhan argues that technology that delivers the message changes us, society, individuals, work, leisure, and perhaps how we experience the world. The railway accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions, creating new kinds of cities and new types of work and leisure. Does the artifact you chose to analyze change us, society, work, or the ways in which we experience the world? For example, Nicholas Carr argues that the way we use the Internet changes our brains can lead to distraction and shallow thoughts.

Langdon Winner argues that the technical arrangements and the designs of artifacts affect society or what people can do. He adds that artifacts can embody overt political effects, for example, the low bridges in Parkway, New York. But not all inventions have ill-intentions embedded in its designs and adoption. In some cases, it’s hard to say that someone wants to harm others. However, what happens might be because technology that looks like it is effective and convenient can favor certain social groups and provide unequal benefits such as the tomato harvester in CA that gave unequal benefits to the larger companies smaller producers out of business. Do you see the unequal interests in the artifact’s efficiency? Who benefits from that? How might that perpetuate certain socio-economical disadvantages in specific segments of the population?