This chapter is all about how technology is used for power and wealth, and politics. To get our brains moving on this chapter I will start off with a simple, yet effective question.
Do you think people in the past and the present have used
technology for the personal gain of power and authority over others? There are plenty of examples from the book,
so use that to your advantage.
There is no doubt that technology has been used to gain power and influence over people. Look at the factories that employ many people. Those who own or manage these factories have authority and control over those who work for them, this was even more so before unions. The workers were at the mercy of the owners and managers. Many of these owners and managers then go on to run for political office and expect those closest to them, like the employees, will support their campaigns. I guess it could be said that you climb the ladder by stepping on the backs of others and technology is the base that the ladder sits on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you; technology is a demonstration of power and can be used to control people. The analysts at the top of the financial market have access to advanced systems which can comprehend complex algorithms which usually will benefit them while hurting the majority of people who invest in financial markets.
DeleteI would have to agree with Ron on this. There is no doubt, that there is a correlation between factories, technology, and the "bottom line". In my opinion when the unions started up that really put a connection between all that and politics. Langdon Winner also acknowledges this in his writings Technological history and American political history were at the moment deeply intertwined" (p. 56).
ReplyDeleteI see technology as as a tool for personal and group satisfaction. We first think of the benefits a technology would provide to us, then if we want to we consider the larger effects of such a thing. There are several examples of technology that benefits a large group as well as the individual such as the development of the computer and cell phone. You are not taking away phones and computers from others in order to gain them yourself. Algorithmic technology that investors use can be argued as only personal benefit since someone has to loose in order for someone else to gain the wealth. Another example of technology that benefits society is city planning. Teich says, " Histories of Architecture, city planning, and public works contain many examples of physical arrangements that contain explicit or implicit political purposes." (49)
ReplyDeleteI most certainly believe people have used technology to gain power over others. One example would be the election in which Theodore Roosevelt ultimately won. This election was scandalous, due to the fact that it was almost bought out by some of the largest business figures to ever walk the earth. These men were Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan. In an effort to maintain the current regulations of business and perhaps get rid of them all together in an effort for them to be able to make more money. They all spent large amounts of their fortune's to place in office a candidate they knew they could control and that would be good for their business practices. This goes to show how technology creates money, money creates power, power creates authority.
ReplyDeleteSo do you think that candidates should be given a spending limit? That would change the idea of being able to buy an election. Or would it just change to campaigning being done by private groups, as we do have now, rather than the candidates.
Deletewww.socialismtoday.org/63/enron.html
ReplyDeleteFortune labeled it the country’s ‘most innovative company’; it was widely praised as the ‘business model’ for the ‘new economy’. By December 2001 the company had crashed, US capitalism’s biggest corporate bankruptcy. Its shares were only worth pennies, most of its 25,000 workers were out of a job. America’s ‘coolest company’ (so Enron claimed) was exposed as a speculative shell camouflaged by fraudulent accounting – a virtual company producing virtual profits. Preliminary investigations have revealed that Enron’s bosses had reported profits the company have never really made (at least $1bn between July 2000 and October 2001), and covered up staggering debts and losses.
I think the above is a prime example of where individuals in powerful positions exerted their authority over others and succeeded.
I never really thought of it that way. This is a great example. I used Bill Gates taking his own ideas to make profits and gain power, but this is defiantly better.
DeleteTechnology often creates advantage. In fact, I think for the most part, the sole purpose for most development and advancement of technology is to achieve this result. The goal is to create a better tool or system to apply to whatever job is at hand. It follows naturally that those interested in getting ahead, including, politicians, special interest groups, and for profit industries would use technology in ways that further their own interests.
ReplyDeleteAs the Teich writes, "If we examine social patterns that comprise the environments of technical systems we find certain devices and systems almost invariably linked to ways of organizing power and authority" (Teich p.62).
Tom S.
I agree. "Necessity is the mother of all inventions". If we need to find a way to get ahead we will do it. If the way exists to get ahead we will use it. Politicians are no different.
DeleteI agree with you both that were going to use it to help make our lives easier. On the other hand I think it's more along the lines of how people use it. They can use the technologies to help them, but why do they need to hurt people in the process? Using their power isn't always a bad thing, but the consequences aren't always the greatest just look at the Waterloo scandal.
DeleteAs long as there were resources to be used for evil, they were used. Without a doubt technology was abused in the hands of oppressors. Written language was and is a technology. At some points in American history for example, women and minorities were not granted access to formal education. In this way, the technology of reading written language was restricted to those with power. In the present, this type of thing might be much harder to identify.
ReplyDeleteTechnology can be used for both good and bad. If it gets in the hands of the wrong people, it can be very bad for society and we have seen many examples with recent tragedies. But we can say for certain that technology is a form of power and can be used to influence groups of people.
DeleteI completely agree with you. It's these certain types of people that ruin it for most. I notice a lot of people worried about identity theft because people know how to use the technologies to good and can hurt others.
DeleteI believe that technology is one of the primary driving factors of power, wealth, and politics. Although is is somewhat of an old technology, nuclear power is still a driving political force. Recently North Korea has performed a series of nuclear and ballistic missile tests. These tests are believed by North Korea to strengthen their national security and defense systems. You can read more about this here - http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-test-explainer/index.html
ReplyDeleteAs for power and wealth, my belief is that people often use technology to obtain power and wealth. People will exploit or sell the latest technologies to make money and with money often comes power.
I would totally agree. Power, wealth, and politics are all tied together in somewhat of a symbiotic relationship.
DeleteWith power, you can gain wealth and political influence. With wealth, you can gain political influence and power. And with political influence, comes power and wealth.
The three are tied together. With one you can easily have the other two. Technology empowers this to happen.
I think as many people as can manage it have used technology and any other method available to garner power and money. It is a basic motivation of human nature. Luckily there are some who find ways to use technology to aid people, as our Founding Fathers dreamed of. The example in the first essay in our book was of the Railroad Barons who owned every part of the rail from the land to the tracks to the trains to the fuel; and as the technology developed and their range expanded, it all kept going back to them.
ReplyDeleteThere will always be people single-mindedly trying to press their advantage to overcome others. There will always be a smaller segment of people dedicated to raising up the people below them. And in between is most of us, who are concerned for ourselves and our families, but once that is met, we do what we can for the less fortunate.
Do you think that those of us who have the least give more because we can relate to being on the "have nots" side so to speak? What I mean is I don't think I would pay as close attention to the inequality here if I had been brought up wealthy and provided all of the advantages.
Delete"We find certain devices and systems almost invariably linked to ways of organizing power and authority" (Teich p.62). With that being stated I believe the answer is yes. Many people in our history have used technology to gain power. For example, all of the monopolists used oil, steel, and railroads to gain their power. Many people have used this technological gain for both good and evil.
ReplyDeleteTwo words: Bill Gates. He created Microsoft as a technology for power. He is like the third richest guy in the world. “At the time, Cyrus McCormick II was engaged in battle with the national union of iron molders. He saw the addition of the new machines as a way to weed out the bad element among men.” (Pg. 55) He used technology as in the machinery to get rid of people so he would in turn make more money.
ReplyDeleteI think Bill Gates is just the most prominent figure in technology because we normally associate it to computers. But there are also a plethora of other innovators who have benefited from technology. Bill Gates has used his innovation to create a wealthy empire, but other investors have also used his technology to gain wealth.
DeleteI believe that technology has always and will always be used by some as a tool of power. There is a perception that a new technology is better and signals progress. This is used to the advantage of the holder of that technology. One example is with military technology for the simple reason that it has the power to destroy and that is a large tool of power with which someone or a group can use to control.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the military technology is used in big part to help protect our nation and our rights against other who may disagree with America. I know that other countries have military technologies and they too have the power to destroy. But I also agree that America uses military technology for power gains.
DeleteI think that is going to happen whenever a group has a technology that gives them an advantage over someone else. To have the upper hand invited aspirations of power and gaining more power.
DeleteThe first thing I thought of when I read this blog was the technology used to create weapons for the military. Our weapons have been created to enforce power over other countries that are unable to produce the same types of heavy-hitting weapons we have created. Our weapons are literally meant to say "We can destroy entire cities, do not mess with us".
ReplyDeleteWhile I would agree that we use our nuclear weapons as a form of power, I wouldn't assume we use them as a means to only bully individuals, but to also protect ourselves. I believe it's a mixture of the two.
DeleteTechnology is frequently used by those in power for political gain. Companies and big corporations are frequently lobbying congress to pass regulations and bills that benefit their business models and protect the status quo. Additionally, our government oversees all of our nuclear reactors, and information agencies like the FBI and the CIA are using massive computer networks and super computers to maintain their power and ensure the safety of the country both from insiders and outsiders.
ReplyDeleteI think that is exactly why there is technology. It is a two-sided sword. One side it make our lives better, on the other it empowers certain people to do what they want. The trick is to be able to move to the latter side. That way you are making the decisions about technology.
ReplyDeleteGuns and money. Two forms of technology that can easily be argued to hold power over individuals. Weapons have constantly been used to assert power around the world throughout history, from the arrow to the automatic rifle. Money is also constantly used to hold power. The individual, or nation, with the most money can afford to buy the most power.
ReplyDeleteThe United States is a great example of this. With arguably the greatest military presence in the world, and one of the wealthiest nations, we are one of the major powers globally. In having weapons we are able to police the world into what we believe it should look like. And in having money we are able to buy our allies.
Everyone uses technology to be better than others. My brother bought the biggest and newest sound system for his car when he was younger so he could be better than others. When we were in the space race with Russia both countries tried to use technology to be better than the other and have more authority than the other. Also with nuclear technology, whoever has the newest and most bombs is going to have more authority than a country that doesn't have that technology.
ReplyDeleteI can think of an example where the explicit exclusion of a technology is used to keep power and authority concentrated, and that is in the breeding of Thoroughbred race horses. In most other animal industries and sports, artificial insemination is sanctioned and widely used. If you have a female of good breeding, you can search through all the potential perfect ancestral cross-breedings in your pursuit of a new generation of winners. Once you've selected your dream male specimen(alive or dead) you want to breed her to, order the semen, have it shipped overnight to you, and your local vet can use it to inseminate your female. So if I'm just a blue-collar guy with one horse in my barn, I can buy the same semen that a rich guy with 50 horses on a 5,000 acre Texas ranch can buy. Not so in the Thoroughbred industry - only "live cover" is acceptable. So instead, you have to ship your mare to the farm where the sire is, pay for her to be boarded there, pay for the 8 handlers to bring to sire to her and keep the sire safe during the deed (yes, you don't want that pesky mare kicking and injuring that prized stallion), pay for her to stay there long enough for the pregnancy to be confirmed, and pay to ship her back home. As you can imagine this is a much more expensive proposition than mail order semen. The wealthy Thoroughbred elite keep these rules in place, effectively relegating non-wealthy people to sub-par sires based on geographical location.
ReplyDeleteTwo words, nuclear deterrent. Take Iran specifically. Even if they developed a nuclear weapon they could not take over the US or even launch an attack in modern day with the weapon without the US knowing. For example, North Korea tried to launch a prototype nuclear missile towards the ocean, it managed to go 20 miles till splash down.
ReplyDeleteNow, keeping Iran from having a nuclear weapon keeps them from being more inclined to invade countries in the middle east like Kuwait. Example being Iraq.
The military specifically uses technology for political gain as well as it's politicians.
Of course people have used technology to help them gain power and influence over others. This falls back on the fact that it’s not the technology that is good or bad but the use for the technology. Hitler used radio and movies to shape the opinion of a notion to match his twisted view. The technology itself has no good or evil component. Evil men will use technology for evil ends and good men will use technology for good ends.
ReplyDelete