The question of whether modern technological development has been beneficial or detrimental to human beings is perhaps the most pressing question that faces our society. If technology is harmful, then we need to minimize or eliminate the danger. If technology is not the source of the problems and concerns that are frequently attributed to it, then we need to find another cause for the social and psychological pressures faced by our society, so we can address these problems. Ever since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, people have voiced complaints about the harmful effects of technology. Therefore, we need to examine what Martin Heidegger, a twentieth-century German philosopher, called "The Question Concerning Technology." In his introduction to Heidegger's speech entitled "The Question Concerning Technology," editor David Krell stated that on this question "hinges nothing less than the survival of the species man and the planet earth."
Martin Heidegger was one of the individuals who examined this question most carefully. However, groups such as the Freedom Club (or FC), of which the Unabomber is a member, have brought it to our attention most forcefully. Since Dr. Theodore Kaczynski has recently agreed to accept responsibility for the Unabomber crimes, this is also a particularly appropriate time to examine these problems.
FC alleges that the Industrial Revolution has brought about much psychological devastation and environmental destruction, while Heidegger warns against the possibility that man may be enslaved by technology. Not only ivory-tower intellectuals and maladjusted hermits spend time considering the problems posed by technology, however. Diverse popular fiction writers such as Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Ald...
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...s of personal freedom against which FC warns. For Heidegger, this questioning process is the most important part of the artistic process. For, as Heidegger states, "questioning is the piety of thought." (Heidegger 317)
Works Cited:
Heidegger, Martin. "The Question Concerning Technology" in Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings. Ed. David Krell. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Perennial, 1969.
Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty" in Classics of Western Philosophy, ed. Steven M. Cahn. Indianapolis, 1995.
Miller, Walter M., Jr. A Canticle for Leibowitz. New York: Bantam, 1968.
Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Plume, 1983.
Unabomber. Industrial Society and Its Future. Online. Internet. 3 June 1998. Available http://www.thecourier.com/manifest.htm
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. Player Piano. New York: Dell, 1952.
People all around agree that technology is changing how we think, but is it changing us for the better? Clive Thompson definitely thinks so and this book is his collection of why that is. As an avid fiction reader I wasn’t sure this book would captivate me, but the 352 pages seemingly flew past me. The book is a whirlwind of interesting ideas, captivating people, and fascinating thoughts on how technology is changing how we work and think.
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Mill, John Stuart, “On Liberty. ch. 1, 3,” from Project Gutenberg Web site: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34901, No. 01/10, Pp. 1-19, Public Domain, 2011
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is left with the decision of whether or not to drop the rock. Roger is
Indispensable to understanding the complexity of the problem of technology, in both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and William Gibson's Neuromancer, is the historical context in which the two were written. Whereas Frankenstein was written in a period of dramatic change - that of the Industrial revolution, in Neuromancer, Gibson echoes the opinion of economists who believe that we are currently experiencing the beginning of a profound economic revolution, due to the breakthroughs in information and communication technology, and which some believe is equal in magnitude to the industrial revolution. The second leitmotif of my research is that of nature in reference to technology. Here I describe the relation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to technology and some of the crucial issues co...
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was a German philosopher that argues in “The Question Concerning Technology," the essence of technology; especially that modern technology is essentially dangerous. He believes that modern technology forces us to misunderstand the world around us, including ourselves. As a result, modern technology takes away essential purposes such as freedom. This freedom revolves around man’s self-knowledge and truth. Specifically, I will introduce and discuss Heidegger’s argument of modern technology “standing-reserve”. By this, technology is ready to be controlled by humans. In the mean time, this unused technology is thought of as being “on call” until there is a need for its further order.