Thinking About Technology

In the first sentence of this stimulating book, the author observes that thinking about technology is not the same as thinking technologically, by which he means instrumentally and mechanistically in extending our powers of control, efficiency and rational management. The purpose of this book is to examine the assumptions and dispositions behind technological thinking and make us more aware of this in the process. This involves considering the ethos of technology, problems associated with it, its function as an ideology and how we can think past it, keeping eros alive 'in a world that conspires against it.' We are inclined to identify our worldview with reality and take our mechanistic metaphors literally when applied to the mind - although it is true that we are increasingly enfolded into machines in terms of our everyday lives and use the word 'smart' quite liberally. We need to remember that the technological worldview is also a reading of reality. The author takes his own view literally when he boldly states (p. 46) that we are thrown into the world without prior consent. There is considerable discussion of the work of Jean Baudrillard on maps and territories as well as the disappearance of meta-narratives and transcendental ideals. In 'thinking past technology', the author brings in the work of David Bohm, who understood the perceptual basis of scientific understanding and the need to think more deeply and self-reflectively. The final chapter gives some advice on living among things, recommending the attentive life in a distracted culture. This is quite a technical work though with an important message in terms of the need for cultural self-awareness.