Technological innovation is pushed from behind, not pulled toward a goal
Evidence
Technology never advances towards anything because it is pushed from behind. The technician does not know why he is working, and generally he does not much care… . There is no call towards a goal; there is constraint by an engine placed in the back and not tolerating any halt for the machine… . The interdependence of technological elements makes possible a very large number of “solutions” for which there are no problems. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 394
Categorization
- SHARE: A resonant epigraph for a friend writing on technological determinism and instrumental reason.
- XREF: connects to: Technology develops a self-sustaining momentum beyond its original drivers — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 393; AI development is not an inevitable process dictated by technology or necessity. — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 373; Obvious applications of a technology can wait centuries to be discovered — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 707 (+8 more)
Related
- Technology develops a self-sustaining momentum beyond its original drivers (similarity 0.83)
- Technological inevitability is a myth; technology is always economic means. (similarity 0.81)
- Profit motivated technology’s growth before science did (similarity 0.80)
- Technology depends on ends that lie beyond technology itself (similarity 0.79)
- Eighteenth-century technological advance was a multiplicity-struggle, not enlightenment progress (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- AI development is not an inevitable process dictated by technology or necessity.
#corroborates(0.50) — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 373