Ten Paradoxes of Technology

Ten Paradoxes of Technology Andrew Feenberg [draft: not for distribution] The “Prologue” to this book is based on articles published in several Chinese business journals. The interest in Chinese business circles Preface in Western technology studies is significant, however marginal at present. China is the poster child for standard development strategies de- In recent years, the industrial revolution has gone global in a big spite increasingly visible catastrophic side-effects. Critique may yet way. The so-called “postindustrial society” has “made in China” writ- play a role in encouraging the necessary correctives. ten all over it. Rates of growth in major undeveloped countries have The first chapter is an expanded version of a lecture delivered in skyrocketed as they take over manufacturing for the entire world. But 2009 in Brasilia to the international conference of the Social Technol- the results are far from reassuring. The dark side of all this progress is ogy Network. The Social Technology Network addresses the limita- increasing inequality and environmental crisis. tions of neo-liberal development strategies with new ideas adapted to These facts form the context for the growing interest in the study the situation of the tens of millions of the excluded. The lecture chal- of technology in the developing world. Awareness that standard strate- lenged standard views of technology with ten “paradoxes” reflecting gies of development are not working for everyone suggests possibilities what we have learned in recent years in science and technology studies that go well beyond environmental protection and banking regulation. and philosophy of technology. The social constructivist turn in technol- We can begin to imagine a better and more purposeful design of mod- ogy studies lies in the background of this lecture. ern life that would improve on the one we have inherited. Such a re- The second chapter combines two lectures presented to the modernization would reduce pollution and waste and overcome the WTMC seminar in 2008. The seminar is a yearly event that brings to- divide between rich and poor. It would enable progress to continue gether many of the doctoral students in science and technology studies along a different track from the current crisis ridden one. (STS) in Holland, one of the principle centers of work in this field. I For that imagined alternative to become reality, the technological was asked by the organizers to introduce myself in my first lecture and base of modern societies must be transformed. Whether this is possible this set me off on a semi-autobiographical exercise that is reproduced depends very much on the nature of technology. From a deterministic here as an accessible entry into the critical theory of technology. In this point of view, the path of development has already been traced out by lecture I describe my own experiences as an “agent” in the technical the advanced societies and no deviation from that path is likely to suc- sphere. ceed. But if this is true, poor countries such as China and India are The third chapter consists of four lectures delivered in 2010 at the doomed to make huge and wasteful expenditures providing such “mod- University of Brasilia to a class that included students from several dis- ern” technologies as the automobile since the automobile played a ma- ciplines and a number of rural development specialists. These lectures jor role in Western development. opened a course in philosophy of technology which continued after my In the West, social criticism and scholarly research in the sociol- departure under the leadership of several Brazilian scholars. The course ogy and history of technology has freed us from naïve faith in the inevi- aimed to counter the influence of technocratic ideas about development tability of our own path of development. Yet deterministic assumptions with a critical approach that would empower the students to think and are alive and well where it counts, among the elites who decide devel- act independently in their increasingly technological society. opment policy. Intellectuals in the developing world are increasingly Chapter four is based on a lecture presented in an early form to the sceptical of these policies as economic crisis and the overwhelming World Social Forum in Belem do Para in 2008, and more fully elabo- evidence of exclusion and pollution send up warning signs that are hard rated in 2009 for a conference organized by the University of Quilmès to ignore. The governments themselves begin to be open to new ideas at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Buenos Aires. This lec- and critical viewpoints. ture attempts to distinguish science and technology in terms of the dif- Change is coming. The task for students of technology is to articu- ferent political strategies appropriate for social responsiveness in each late the philosophical and sociological basis of that change and to argue case. The distinction is necessary because of the frequent confusion on for a more democratic and humane path of development than has pre- the left between regulation of technology and management of scientific vailed in the past. research. The context of these lectures is important for understanding them. The issues are not merely academic. The study of technology concerns the future of modernity as an innovative form of life with a still uncer- tain grip on global development. Faced with the dual crises of exclusion and environmental pollution, we should be engaged in a process of social experimentation leading to a new understanding of progress. The practical obstacles to overcome are enormous and the intellec- tual resources still relatively scarce. Science and technology studies and philosophy of technology can make a contribution to freeing us from the failing illusions of modernization theory and neoliberalism. That is my purpose in publishing these lectures. I would like to thank those who helped organize my publications and lectures, Cao Kezhen, Sally Wyatt, Larissa Barros, Ricardo Neder, Frédéric Sultan, and Fernando Tula Molina. I would also like to thank the Fundação Banco do Brasil for supporting my stay in Brazil, and the strike committee of University of Brasilia for permitting my class to go forward during a labor action. Table of Contents Preface i Prologue: Thoughts on Development 1 1. Ten Paradoxes of Technology 11 2. Encountering Technology 29 3. Critical Theory and Philosophy of Technology 57 4. Science, Technology, Technoscience: Distinctions and Connections 91 about one eigth the US share. Per capita income in the US is over 30 Prologue times that of China. Thoughts on Development But China is catching up. It is growing four or five times as fast as the US. Extrapolating the trend, China too becomes a moderately Marx wrote Das Capital in England, inspired by the industrial wealthy country in the not too distant future, and this seems likely to revolution which first took off in that country. But he wrote the book in happen if no great disaster arrests its progress. German. In the preface he explained the relevance of the English ex- This is the premise of the China Modernization Report 2006 perience to still agrarian Germany with a Latin phrase: “De te fabula published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The report’s optimistic narratur,” which translates “Of you the tale is told.” By this Marx scenario projects growth at current rates until 2050, at which time meant that the future of Germany was already visible across the water China will be 10 times as rich as it is at present. Poverty will have been in England. And so it was. Germany industrialized too toward the end abolished, five hundred million peasants will have moved to the cities, of the 19 th Century. six hundred million urbanites will have moved to suburbs, and half the Soon thereafter Russia and Japan entered the race to industrial- population will own cars. The author admits that this will be difficult to ize and later social theorists adopted Marx’s prophetic confidence that achieve but he believes it possible. late modernizers would recapitulate the experience of the early fore- Of course the projection may be falsified by all sorts of contin- runners such as England. However, national particularities and the con- gencies. Forty five years is far too distant a future for anyone to foresee sequences of earlier developments made for significant differences in with confidence. But the significance of this document has less to do the “tale” of modernization in Russia and Japan. Today it is China of with the future than the present. The China Modernization Report 2006 whom the old tale is supposed to be told. But in this case too the simi- reveals contemporary aspirations. It is intended to inspire efforts rather larities begin to recede before the differences. than to guarantee results. The models for China’s rapid economic advance are the US, This is precisely what is most disturbing about the report. Europe, and Japan, and the obstacles are usually said to be inheritances China today aspires to a future that bears a startling resemblance to the from Chinese history and culture. But there is an enormous problem American present. The US is the country of car ownership and subur- with this way of telling the story of progress: China’s large and diverse banization. This is the model of wealth that has driven development in population. Russia is also big, but it has its own vast resources. When our economy since World War II. The report adopts this model uncriti- Japan entered world resource markets its purchases represented a small cally for China and presumably this reflects the image of wealth in the increment in demand. Exploration and exploitation of new resources minds of many Chinese citizens for whom modernization is Americani- could easily match anything Japan required.

Load more