@vortex_egg

I'm trying to think about it in terms of system dynamics and feedback loops.

This is a very solid approach, and addresses technology's impacts on society and civilisation.

There's also the questions of what technology IS and how it operates, neither of which seem to be well-formed that I can tell. I'm increasingly frustrated that there seems not to be a good philosophy or theory of technology generally. (Ellul, Foucault, Heidigger, Mumford, Schumpeter, and a few others try, though I find it weak sauce despite some good points). But definition and mechanism both address the good/evil/neutral question.

The work I keep returning to, and finding despite some weaknesses (very dry & technical) compelling strengths (excellent organisation and reasoning) is Michael and Joyce Heusemann's Techno-Fix. It's by technologists, though critical ones, and looks specifically to mechanism.

Links and some earlier discussion of mine:

http://newtechnologyandsociety.org/
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780865717046
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SDbmJh8uSAY
https://archive.org/details/scm-33066-michaelhuesemanntechno-fixwhyt
https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/21pc8c/michael_joyce_heusemann_technofix_why_technology/

#technology #TheoryOfTechnology #PhilosophyOfTechnology #TechnoFix #Heusemann #MichaelHeusemann #JoyceHeusemann #TechOntology

If religion was formerly the opiate of the masses, then surely technology is the opiate of the educated public today, or at least of its favorite authors. No other single subject is so universally invested with high hopes for the improvement of mankind generally and of Americans in particular.

-- John McDermott, "Technology: The Opiate of the Intellectuals"(1969)

#technology #theoryOfTechnology #JohnMcDermott