chapter 1: introduction Flashcards
Technology is a means for us and has become an extension of ourselves due to the consumption within our lives?
true
Study of tech has been approached from a _______ standpoint, consisting of the examination of _____ and ____ ____
Material, tools, and tool use
true or False: Examining the social side is NOT essential as our society moves toward greater technological integration in many domains including health, education, transport, work, and commerce?
false
it is essential
Who described changes as leading toward a technological society?
Ellul (1964)
True of False: Early scholars paid much attention to the social and ethical implications of technology?
false
they paid little attention
When examining social and ethical dimensions of technology, what sociology theoretical framework was used and what did it address?
Marxism
Focus on how the social, ethical, and technological come together and influence one another
- examined how the growing use of machinery was a central factor in deskilling.
What three words are used for technology that defines our current times and highlights that interaction between humans and the technological?
Simulation, augmentation, automation
What is simulation?
Geared towards the development of tools that can resemble or outperform human faculties
eg. snapchat my ai
What is augmentation?
Attempts to integrate machines and humans into new hybrid actors with added capabilities
What is automation?
move toward employing technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence to fully automate many processes and activities previously performed by humans
eg. garage door opening apps instead of doing it yourself
What is the Facebook Controversy Case Study and what important information rose from it?
- Facebook potentially swayed voters during the 2016 US presidential election
- Key takeaway: the technology that we tend to trust and frequently use can influence our lives, opinions, and behaviours in unexpected ways
what were the 3 issues that came to light from the facebook controversy?
- fake news - making it diff for users to identify truthful info from misinfo
- prone and sinsitive to clicking on things labeled as clickbait
- russian propaganda - links controlled. by agencies in Russia with aim of influencing public opinion on the US (troll farm)
- cambridge analytica - access info from 85 million facebook users
- included psych profilling, political ads targeting their views and personality
3 positives from this include:
- How third parties access and use the site;
- Data sharing practices;
- Increasing transparency and public scrutiny of companies
What are the five historical definition of technology?
- Material substance
- Knowledge
- Practice
- Technique
- Society
tech as material substance
passive object viewed as tooled created by humans under their control
“radical other to humanity” - exists outside social realm
- problem: disregards interplay between society and tech
- doesn’t examine social change
- tech as being its physical or mat properties
What is technology as knowledge? and artifacts def?
tech is based upon, utilizes and generates complex body of knowledge
- stems from human activity such as artifacts
artifacts = objects that have been modified, modelled or produced from a human
- create use or transform objects to achieve certain goals
how technology tools, resources and devices fit into the process of teaching and learning
what are the limitations to tech as knowledge?
- knowledge used to create and transform objects is diff entity than object itself
- disregards impact that tech has on society by limiting tech to expertise and skill
use laytons model of tech to remove some limits
What model distinguishes between the tech itself and the knowledge available about it?
Layton’s Model of Technology
What three components are Layton’s Model of Technology consisted of and explained?
Ideas = thought process that precedes the tool
Design = mediates the gap between abstract ideas and the object - craftmanship needed)
Techniques = the actual artifact or technology made up of material substance and allows humans to complete tasks
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Layton’s Model of Technology?
Advantages
- Definition of technology goes beyond just a consideration of the artifact
- Model creates a link between how we visualize technologies and their actual realization
Disadvans.
- No explanation of how technology and technological knowledge are linked to society
What is technology as a practice?
Technology is complex practices embedded in everyday activities
- how tech becomes normalized within society over time (strength)
- Structuring force in how we live, play, and work
Limitation
- tech analyzed as a neg force and leads to technological determinism
What Canadian scholar contributed information to tech as a practice and what did they say?
Ursula Franklin (1992)
tech in the context of the real world or “a system” involving organization, procedures, symbols, new words and a mindset
Believed tech as being able to “liberate its users” often ends up enslaving them by creating dependence
- people put trust in machines and if it fails blames humans who made it
What is technology as a technique?
- Action-oriented POV
- Examined in relation to human activity and describes abstract concept and not an object
- tech is a tool and mechanism through which human needs can be achieved
problem: does not elaborate on the mechanisms by which social change occurs
What is technology as society?
consideration of technology and its interplay within society
- acts with society and in a way becomes society
Problem: view does not allow us to study how tech intersects w society
What did Simpson (1995) say about tech as a society?
technology encompasses knowledge, mechanisms, skills, and apparatus that are geared toward controlling and transforming society
agent of change that can control and alter humanity
What did Baudrillard (1993) say about tech as a society?
technology does more than effect change in society
What did Marcuse (1982) say about tech as a society?
Believes that the introduction of new technologies brought about new standards as well as cultural and social change
What are the 6 challenges of technology as society that influence how we approach the study of technology?
- rapid tech advances
- unprecedent social chane
- direction and type of effect
- target group
- changing uses
- ethical dilemmas
what does rapid tech advances and unprecedent social change entail?
t ech evolves at a rapid pace and existing techs transform and they often become more complex
unprecedented social change in many realms of society, affecting many aspects of social, cultural, and economic life
what do direction and type of effect and target group entail?
directionality problem
- difficult to determine the extent to which tech affects society or society affects tech
particulars of a group have to be examined to understand how that group is appropriating the tech and how the tech has an impact on members’ lives
what does changing uses and ethical dilemmas entail?
uses of tech change over time
- a single tech often mutates into a tech serving multiple purposes
ethical dilemmas that more complicated techs bring to the table becomes an important aspect of tech adoption and study
How do we make sense of these five different definitions of technology?
- Each one has its merits, helping us understand one aspect of technology
- No single definition can capture the full meaning of a particular concept
What is the proposed new definition of technology?
Socio-material assemblage of material objects, embodying and reflecting social elements, such as knowledge, norms and attitudes, that have been shaped and structured to serve social, political and cultural and existential purposes
What are the four advantages of this new proposed definition?
- Separates technology from society
- Does not include technology as an element of society
- Views technology as embodying and reflecting knowledge, social norms, social structures, etc
- integrates the concept of socio-material assemblage
Regarding the contemporary discussion of technology, what can be said about simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Goal of AI was to simulate any way or form of human faculties, often including emotionally
What is the Turing test?
believed AI could be achieved through computation rather than machinery
-assess humans ability to differ between human and
- test machines potential to show intelligent behaviour
three players = human interrogator and machine are separated from each other and goal is for interrogator to discriminate between the machine and human through
- if interrogator cant discriminate then the machine has passed the test
What does McCarthy (2007) argue about the Turing test/AI?
Argues that computers and humans are still fundamentally different in the way they solve problems
what are intelligence agents?
capable of accruing knowledge and displaying intelligence to achieve goals related to their environment
eg. eliza - simulate psychotherapist
- based on algorithms that can process large amounts of data
chatterbot check in medical diagnosis - appealing for 3 reasons?
- diagnosis can happen in real time with no gaps and no appointments needed
- no anxiety around what a specific symptom could mean
- start treatment without delay and preventing the medical condition to get worse
Regarding the contemporary discussion of technology, what can be said about augmentation?
based on principles of connectedness, responsiveness and intensify human qualities and productivity
- dont change physical
- physical body augmented and connected to digital components with computational and communicational abilities
eg. cell phones
what is a cyborg?
being or entity containing both artificial and biological components that are seamlessly connected
What can be said about the future of augmentation?
Futurists predict that augmentation and the coming together of human and machine are inevitable
- One controversial possibility is transhumanism
what is transhumanism?
human beings should be permitted to use tech to modify and enhance human cognition and bodily function, expanding abilities beyond current biological constraints
product of quasi-religious movement - belief in futuristic tech change of human nature to achieve goals such as freedom from suffering and bodily and material constraints, immortality and super intelligence
Regarding the contemporary discussion of technology, what can be said about automation?
Describes the design and implementation of machinery to a process or procedure with little or no human intervention
1950s viewed machines as better alt to human labour
- advantages in integrating machines in workflow of assembly lines
- machines didn’t complain about unfair work conditions, low pay, get sick, ask for vacation or work related injuries
what is disruptive tech?
tech that is responsible for transformative social change
exercise radical change that is transformative in nature
- eg. driverless cars
- difficulties that exist when making ethical decisions and determining who is to blame when automated system fails
True or False: The level of interaction and integration between technology and society continues to grow at a slow pace?
False: grows at a RAPID pace
