Early humans used fire to turn night into a time of light and warmth. When he took hold of his axe, the bushes became passable and could be shaped. And as the tools humans use have changed, the story has progressed, and the world itself has been shaped by what is possible with its use. As railroads expanded, the earth shrank, and even mountains became accessible to explosives and excavators as a web of tracks spread across the landscape. The whole world now fits in the palm of your hand, and you can navigate it with your thumb and an internet connection.
Ours is a time of heightened dissatisfaction. We are aware of the obstacles that nature imposes, and instead of accepting them, we resist them. We change the world on a whim, and our lives often become better because of it.
But we are also shaped by the tools we use. Technology restructures the relationship between the subjects who use it and the world in which they exist.technology teeth culture. And at its core, technology is more than just a tool or a means to an end.According to Martin Heidegger, it is mode of existence In the world. It simply allows us to interact with the world in a different way, transforming the real world. In a way, it's similar to growing new appendages and organs, like wings or gills.
If the thought of being so closely tied to your toothbrush, refrigerator, and smartphone makes you shudder, we get it. But to resist here is to put undue distance between yourself, and I guarantee you that some of the things that are close to your heart, that form your values, and that you can do so without major conflict. I have made you rich. For example, the written word and its preservation in the form of books and drives amounts to extending human memory beyond its natural limits. We cannot and should not hide from this reality at this time. All the beautiful poetry, religious musings, scientific texts, and practical manuals in the world are truly extensions of our technology. Music, movies, community buildings, the farmer's tractor, grandma's insulin pump, and great-uncle's favorite muscle car are all under this protection. And a world without many of these would be colder, emptier, and more inhuman.
If you could fly and breathe water, cliffs and bodies of water would take on a whole new meaning. Instead of boundaries, you will see different terrain to cross. And in this line of reasoning, natural resources are, euphemistically, warmth (burning logs), health (e.g., steel for scalpel, bark for medicine), shelter (concrete, steel, wood, to name a few). Examples include electricity (e.g. burning fossil fuels and creating solar cells).
However, as is clear to those paying the Any Please note: the optimistic view that all technology is benevolent is misguided. Because of technology, we tend to see everything as “.”meaning, purpose, cause, effect” This way of being is dangerous and inhumane, and it takes the creations of engineers too far simply because something is wrong. Possible Amazon's Alexa performs AI necromancy, leading to horrifying debacles. deceased relative.
To borrow Heidegger's words once again, the way to overcome this entanglement with tools is “liberation” (Gelasenheit), an attitude that says both “yes” and “no” to technology. Liberation involves accepting that technology is inevitable without allowing it to draw us into its depths.To quote Karl Jaspersfaced with this great technological artifact that we are all born with, one defaults to “accepting life as a mere existence and allowing yourself to decide everything.”
technology should help we, not the other way around. That means we need to push for more reliable technology. This is harder than rejecting the entire post-industrial project altogether. But it's the only realistic way forward.
