Taking Technology Seriously: Introduction to the Special Issue on New Technologies and Global Environmental Politics • Simon Nicholson and Jesse L
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Curriculum Vitae Ned O'gorman Associate Professor Department Of
Curriculum Vitae Ned O’Gorman Associate Professor Department of Communication University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 325 Communication Building, MC-456 1207 Oregon St. Urbana, IL 61801 USA Office Phone: 217.265.0859 Email: [email protected] Web: http://nogorman.org Education Ph.D., 2005, The Pennsylvania State University M.Div., Covenant Theological Seminary M.A., University of Tennessee B.A., Saint Louis University Academic Appointments and Affiliations 2012-present, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Illinois 2015-16, Visiting Faculty Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia 2005-present, Core Faculty, Center for Writing Studies, University of Illinois 2010-present, Core Faculty, Program for Arms Control, Defense, and International Security 2012-13, Faculty Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois 2005-2012, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Illinois Awards & Honors 2103-18, Conrad Humanities Professorial Scholar, University of Illinois 2014, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois 2012-13, Center for Advanced Study Fellow, University of Illinois 2013-15, Faculty Member, INTERSECT initiative in Technology Studies, Graduate College, University of Illinois. 2010, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow (through Vectors/USC Summer Institute) 2010, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Collaborative Research Project Award 2007-08, Humanities -
What Is That Thing Called Philosophy of Technology? - R
HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY – Vol. IV - What Is That Thing Called Philosophy of Technology? - R. J. Gómez WHAT IS THAT THING CALLED PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY? R. J. Gómez Department of Philosophy. California State University (LA). USA Keywords: Adorno, Aristotle, Bunge, Ellul, Feenberg, Habermas, Heidegger, Horkheimer, Jonas, Latour, Marcuse, Mumford, Naess, Shrader-Frechette, artifact, assessment, determinism, ecosophy, ends, enlightenment, efficiency, epistemology, enframing, ideology, life-form, megamachine, metaphysics, method, naturalistic, fallacy, new, ethics, progress, rationality, rule, science, techno-philosophy Contents 1. Introduction 2. Locating technology with respect to science 2.1. Structure and Content 2.2. Method 2.3. Aim 2.4. Pattern of Change 3. Locating philosophy of technology 4. Early philosophies of technology 4.1. Aristotelianism 4.2. Technological Pessimism 4.3. Technological Optimism 4.4. Heidegger’s Existentialism and the Essence of Technology 4.5. Mumford’s Megamachinism 4.6. Neomarxism 4.6.1. Adorno-Horkheimer 4.6.2. Marcuse 4.6.3. Habermas 5. Recent philosophies of technology 5.1. L. Winner 5.2. A. Feenberg 5.3. EcosophyUNESCO – EOLSS 6. Technology and values 6.1. Shrader-Frechette Claims 6.2. H Jonas 7. Conclusions SAMPLE CHAPTERS Glossary Bibliography Biographical Sketch Summary A philosophy of technology is mainly a critical reflection on technology from the point of view of the main chapters of philosophy, e.g., metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. Technology has had a fast development since the middle of the 20th century , especially ©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY – Vol. IV - What Is That Thing Called Philosophy of Technology? - R. -
Neil Postman
Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change by Neil Postman Talk delivered in Denver Colorado March 28, 1998 … I doubt that the 21st century will pose for us problems that are more stunning, disorienting or complex than those we faced in this century, or the 19th, 18th, 17th, or for that matter, many of the centuries before that. But for those who are excessively nervous about the new millennium, I can provide, right at the start, some good advice about how to confront it. …. Here is what Henry David Thoreau told us: “All our inventions are but improved means to an unimproved end.” Here is what Goethe told us: “One should, each day, try to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words.” Socrates told us: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Rabbi Hillel told us: “What is hateful to thee, do not do to another.” And here is the prophet Micah: “What does the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.” And I could say, if we had the time, (although you know it well enough) what Jesus, Isaiah, Mohammad, Spinoza, and Shakespeare told us. It is all the same: There is no escaping from ourselves. The human dilemma is as it has always been, and it is a delusion to believe that the technological changes of our era have rendered irrelevant the wisdom of the ages and the sages. Nonetheless, having said this, I know perfectly well that because we do live in a technological age, we have some special problems that Jesus, Hillel, Socrates, and Micah did not and could not speak of. -
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: How the EU Can Lead It
EUV0010.1177/1781685818762890European ViewSchäfer 762890research-article2018 Article European View 2018, Vol. 17(1) 5 –12 The fourth industrial © The Author(s) 2018 https://doi.org/10.1177/1781685818762890DOI: 10.1177/1781685818762890 revolution: How the EU journals.sagepub.com/home/euv can lead it Matthias Schäfer Abstract The fourth industrial revolution is different from the previous three. This is because machines and artificial intelligence play a significant role in enhancing productivity and wealth creation, which directly changes and challenges the role of human beings. The fourth industrial revolution will also intensify globalisation. Therefore, technology will become much more significant, because regions and societies that cope positively with the technological impact of the fourth industrial revolution will have a better economic and social future. This article argues that the EU can play an important role in developing an environment appropriate for the fourth industrial revolution, an environment that is vibrant and open to new technologies. Member states would profit from an EU-wide coordinated framework for this area. The EU has to establish new common policies for the market-oriented diffusion and widespread use of new technologies. Keywords Fourth industrial revolution, Technology policy, Industrial policy, Leadership Introduction Historically there have been four industrial revolutions (see Schwab 2016). The first began in the early nineteenth century, when the power of steam and water dramatically increased the productivity of human (physical) labour. The second revolution started almost a hundred years later with electricity as its key driver. Mass industrial production Corresponding author: M. Schäfer, Department Politics and Consulting, Head of the Team for Economic Policy, Konrad-Adenauer- Stiftung, Berlin, Germany. -
Technology, Development and Economic Crisis: the Schumpeterian Legacy
CIMR Research Working Paper Series Working Paper No. 23 Technology, development and economic crisis: the Schumpeterian legacy by Rinaldo Evangelista University of Camerino Piazza Cavour, 19/F, 62032 Camerino (IT) +39-0737-403074 [email protected] June 2015 ISSN 2052-062X Abstract This contribution aims at highlighting the complex, non-linear and potentially contradictory nature of the relationships between technological progress, economic growth and social development, in particular within the context of market based economies. The main (provocative) argument put forward in the paper is that the recent neo-Schumpeterian literature, while providing fundamental contributions to our understanding of innovation, has contributed to the rising of a positivistic reading of the relationship between technology, economy and society, with technology being able to guaranty strong economic growth and (implicitly) social welfare. This is confirmed by the fact that, contrary to other influential heterodox economic schools and Schumpeter himself, in the recent neo- Schumpeterian literature technology is only rarely associated to macroeconomic market failures such as systemic crises, structural unemployment, and the growth of social and economic inequalities. It is also argued that the emergence of a “positivistic bias” in the neo-Schumpeterian literature has been associated to the dominance of a supply-side and micro-based view of the technology-economy relationships. Key words: Technology, Innovation, Schumpeter, Development, Crisis JEL codes: B52, O00, O30. 2 1. Introduction There is no doubt that the last economic crisis, with its depth, extension and length, could have, at least in principle, the potentiality of shaking at the fundamentals the dominant neo-liberal economic thinking and policy framework. -
Rhetoric for Becoming Otherwise
The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of the Liberal Arts RHETORIC FOR BECOMING OTHERWISE: LIFE, LITERATURE, GENEALOGY, FLIGHT A Dissertation in English by Abram D. Anders © 2009 Abram D. Anders Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2009 ii The dissertation of Abram D. Anders was reviewed and approved* by the following: Richard M. Doyle Professor of English and Science, Technology and Society Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Jeffrey T. Nealon Liberal Arts Research Professor of English Xiaoye You Assistant Professor of English and Asian Studies Robert A. Yarber, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Art Robert R. Edwards Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English and Comparative Literature Department of English Graduate Director *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. iii ABSTRACT Rhetoric for Becoming Otherwise begins with the Isocratean premise that thought, speech, writing are best understood as bridges between the already said of language and the emerging circumstances that are the occasions for their production. This argument is rehearsed across a variety of domains and instances following Isocrates exhortation that the rhetorician or practitioner of philosophia can only model the movement of discourse without expecting to provide any “true knowledge” or “absolute theory” for how to encounter the problematics of an endlessly deferred present. As a matter of rhetoric, becoming otherwise is the continually renewed task of creating something new from the resources of language and for the demands of an ever deferred present—Presocratics versus Classicists (Chapter 1). As a matter of health, becoming otherwise is the necessity of overcoming limitation and suffering in order to achieve new norms of health and pursue the ever changing opportunities of a self‐developing capacity for producing new capacities—Normativity versus Normalization (Chapter 2). -
The Effects of Technology and Innovation on Society Peter Sasvari
Bahria University Journal of Information & Communication Technology Vol. 5, Issue 1 December 2012 The Effects of Technology and Innovation on Society Peter Sasvari Abstract- Various models of the information society have been Information as a term became more and more popular in the developed so far and they are so different from country to last 30-40 years; it has started to have an increasingly country that it would be rather unwise to look for a single, all- important role in everyday language while its strict meaning encompassing definition. In our time a number of profound mentioned above has gradually faded away. At the same time, socio-economic changes are underway. The application of these theories and schools on ICT is problematic in many respects. there has been a growing uncertainty about the true meaning First, as we stated above, there is not a single, widely used of the term 'information'. All this doubtfulness is mainly paradigm which has synthesised the various schools and theories caused by the so-called 'information-centered' world we are dealing with technology and society. Second, these fragmented living in and by the widespread expansion of information and approaches do not have a fully-fledged mode of application to the communication technology as almost everyone living in relationship of ICT and (information) society. Third, SCOT, developed western societies can experience the phenomenon ANT, the evolutionary- or the systems approach to the history of technology when dealing with information society – does not take called the Information Revolution. All this suggests that into account the results of approaches studying the very essence information has become an essential part of our society and of the information age: information, communication and plays a centre role in our lives. -
A Systematic Review of Methods for Health Care Technology Horizon Scanning
AHRQ Health Care Horizon Scanning System A Systematic Review of Methods for Health Care Technology Horizon Scanning Prepared for: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850 Contract No. 290-2010-00006-C Prepared by: Fang Sun, M.D., Ph.D. Karen Schoelles, M.D., S.M., F.A.C.P ECRI Institute 5200 Butler Pike Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462 AHRQ Publication No. 13-EHC104-EF August 2013 This report incorporates data collected during implementation of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Health Care Horizon Scanning System by ECRI Institute under contract to AHRQ, Rockville, MD (Contract No. 290-2010-00006-C). The findings and conclusions in this document are those of the authors, who are responsible for its content, and do not necessarily represent the views of AHRQ. No statement in this report should be construed as an official position of AHRQ or of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The information in this report is intended to identify resources and methods for improving the AHRQ Health Care Horizon Scanning System in the future. The purpose of the AHRQ Health Care Horizon Scanning System is to assist funders of research in making well-informed decisions in designing and funding comparative-effectiveness research. This report may periodically be assessed for the urgency to update. If an assessment is done, the resulting surveillance report describing the methodology and findings will be found on the Effective Health Care Program website at: www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov. -
The Effect of Technological Change on Firm
The Effect of Technological Change on Firm Survival and Growth - Evidence from Technology Standards Justus Baron∗ Daniel F. Spulbery Northwestern University Northwestern University April 21, 2017 Abstract We analyze the effect of technological change on firm exits, establishment entry and exit, and the creation and destruction of jobs. We make use of a novel measure of technological change: technology standards. Replacements and withdrawals of standards provide information about technological obsolescence, whereas references among standards signal new uses for existing technologies. Relating standards to firm cohorts using the date of publication, we find that the withdrawal of standards induces a significant increase in the rates of firm deaths, establishment exits and job destruction in the firms associated with the replaced standards. New standards building upon existing standards however have the opposite effect, as firms associated with the technological vintage being referenced create new establishments at a higher rate. JEL-Classification: L15, L16, O33 Keywords: creative destruction, business dynamics, technological change, tech- nology standards ∗Corresponding Author. Research Associate, Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth, Northwestern University Law School, 375 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. E-mail: [email protected]. yElinor Hobbs Distinguished Professor of International Business, Department of Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, and Research Director, Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth, Northwestern University Law School, Chicago, IL. E-mail: [email protected]. 1 Introduction Technological change has long been recognized as an important driver of economic growth (Solow, 1957). Business dynamics, including the entry and exit of firms, and the reallocation of labor through the creation and destruction of jobs in different firms, are another important driver of economic growth (Jovanovic, 1982). -
Some Notes on Theories of Technology, Society and Innovation Systems for S&T Policy Studies
1 Some notes on theories of Technology, Society and Innovation Systems for S&T policy studies Mónica Salazar-Acosta and Adam Holbrook CPROST Report 08-02 2 3 Some notes on theories of technology, society and innovation systems for science and technology policy studies Mónica Salazar-Acosta and Adam Holbrook, with editorial comments by Glenda Shaw-Garlock CENTRE FOR POLICY RESEARCH ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Vancouver BC Report 08-02 Introduction Does technology shape society, or does society influence our technological choices? Is technological determinism a theory of society or a theory of technology? The debate on Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies has been animated by two opposite views on technology: one that affirms that technology shapes society, and the other that society shapes technology. The former, is commonly associated with the notion of technological determinism; while the latter could be labeled ‘social shaping of technology’ which covers various approaches, such as social constructivism and actor-network theory. Neither provides an overall view: one looks at the forest and the other at the trees, but both have failed to give us a comprehensive view of technological change and the major forces driving social change. What follows is an examination of technological determinism – the shaping of society by technology - and the influence of society on the evolution of technology . It does not pretend to be exhaustive or representative of the most recent scholarship on the subject. A good, recent, -
TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE and OPPORTUNITIES for DEVELOPMENT AS a MOVING TARGET Distr
TD(X)/RT.1/9 UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT UNCTAD X High-level Round Table on Trade and Development: Directions for the Twenty-first Century TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT AS A MOVING TARGET Distr. GENERAL TD(X)/RT.1/9 20 December 1999 Original: ENGLISH UNCTAD X High-level Round Table on Trade and Development: Directions for the Twenty-first Century Bangkok, 12 February 2000 TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT AS A MOVING TARGET* Paper prepared by Carlota Perez Independent Consultant, Caracas, Venezuela Honorary Research Fellow, University of Sussex, United Kingdom * The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the UNCTAD secretariat. GE.99- Executive Summary This paper provides an interpretation of development as a process of accumulation of technological and social capabilities in developing countries that is dependent upon their ability to take advantage of different and successive windows of opportunity. The nature of such windows would be determined by evolving technologies in the leading countries of the world system. The interplay of continuity and discontinuity, which characterizes technical change, would open successive spaces of possibility – some narrower, some wider, some only sufficient for initiating development processes, and others for allowing significant leaps forward. The shifts in the direction of technical change associated with each technological revolution would provide the best opportunities for catching up. At each stage, it would be vital to identify the changes in industrial power structures and the interests of firms in the advanced world in order to negotiate complementary strategies and establish positive-sum games. -
The New World of Discovery, Invention, and Innovation: Convergence of Knowledge, Technology, and Society
J Nanopart Res (2013) 15:1946 DOI 10.1007/s11051-013-1946-1 PERSPECTIVES The new world of discovery, invention, and innovation: convergence of knowledge, technology, and society Mihail C. Roco • William S. Bainbridge Received: 13 August 2013 / Accepted: 14 August 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht (outside the USA) 2013 Abstract Convergence of knowledge and technol- research, development, and applications based on ogy for the benefit of society (CKTS) is the core dynamic system-logic deduction, (3) enhancement of opportunity for progress in the twenty-first century. creativity and innovation through evolutionary pro- CKTS is defined as the escalating and transformative cesses of convergence that combines existing princi- interactions among seemingly different disciplines, ples and divergence that generates new ones, (4) the technologies, communities, and domains of human utility of higher-level cross-domain languages to activity to achieve mutual compatibility, synergism, generate new solutions and support transfer of new and integration, and through this process to create knowledge, and (5) the value of vision-inspired basic added value and branch out to meet shared goals. research embodied in grand challenges. CKTS is a Convergence has been progressing by stages over the general purpose approach in knowledge society. It past several decades, beginning with nanotechnology allows society to answer questions and resolve prob- for the material world, followed by convergence of lems that isolated capabilities cannot, as well as to nanotechnology, biotechnology, information, and create new competencies, knowledge, and technolo- cognitive science (NBIC) for emerging technologies. gies on this basis. Possible solutions are outlined for CKTS is the third level of convergence.