The Essence of Technology

Darin Barney’s chapter about Network Technology brought up three theories regarding technology and modern society: instrumentalism, substantivism, and social constructivism. While the theories were well fleshed out, to me, they weren’t very engaging. Digging deeper into the article, however, I thought that Barney’s notions regarding the essence of network technology were interesting and substantive enough to make me stop and think.

Barney gives two main characteristics that make up the essence of network technology. The first being that technology is “essentially artificial” and that technology is only capable of functioning and accomplishing because of human ingenuity, and there would be no technological advancements without human initiative. The second characteristic is that technology is “instrumental rationality” which states “the efficiency of the means eclipses judgment about the worthiness of the ends.”

The example provided for technology being essentially artificial is the Internet allowing us to communicate simultaneously with people all across the world. This example also fits the efficiency of technology as well. But the most interesting part is the critique about the Internet, with some saying that the Internet is an “exploitation, domination or mastery of nature.” With social networks, the speed at which we can access and absorb information, and the ease with which we can communicate, it baffles me that there would be such a critique of the Internet. Then again, when cars were invented people often said it was the destruction of the family, and that the car was nothing more than a bed on wheels. That said, it seems inevitable that whenever new technology is invented that increases our quality of life, there will be those that passionately oppose it.