Technology develops a self-sustaining momentum beyond its original drivers

Evidence

The constant revolutionising of technology gains some of its impetus from the imperatives of capitalist accumulation and from military considerations, but once under way has a dynamism of its own. The drive to expand scientific knowledge and to demonstrate the effectiveness of such advances in technological change is one influential factor. As Jacques Ellul points out, technological innovation, once routinely established, has a strong inertial quality: — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 393

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the reader’s thesis: like technological systems, institutional hierarchies (Lord Darlington’s household) acquire autonomous momentum that overrides the moral judgment of the individuals embedded in them. — connects to: Technological innovation is pushed from behind, not pulled toward a goal — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 394; Building autonomous objective culture resembles economic takeoff into self-sustaining growth — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 87; Each mode of production is driven forward by overcoming its own contradictions (+10 more)

Related

• Technological innovation is pushed from behind, not pulled toward a goal (similarity 0.83)
• Technology depends on ends that lie beyond technology itself (similarity 0.81)
• Profit motivated technology’s growth before science did (similarity 0.81)
• Each mode of production is driven forward by overcoming its own contradictions (similarity 0.81)
• Technological inevitability is a myth; technology is always economic means. (similarity 0.81)
• Technical innovations and their industrial implementation drive waves of acceleration (similarity 0.79)
• Technical innovation followed capitalist social relations rather than dictating them (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Technological innovation is pushed from behind, not pulled toward a goal #corroborates (0.85) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 394
• Building autonomous objective culture resembles economic takeoff into self-sustaining growth #corroborates (0.60) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 87
• Each mode of production is driven forward by overcoming its own contradictions #complicates (0.50)