“Technology is the characteristic way we take up with the world in the modern era.”
This goes back to the idea that technology has become so pervasive that we scarcely recognize the full reach that it has in our lives.
Technology as a pattern
The pattern of technology (the device paradigm) is fundamental to the shape that the world has assumed over the last three centuries.
That pattern is perhaps difficult or impossible to see. It reigns as common sense, as the obvious way of doing things.
(See examples from Henry Lewis’ handouts)
Technology promises to bring the forces of nature and culture under control, to liberate us from misery an toil, and to enrich our lives.
Humans were to become (through science and technology) the masters and possessors of nature (Descartes)
Life before technology is remembered as misery and deprivation.
The promise is frequently made explicit in advertisement
A thing is inseparable from its context (Engagement).
A thing necessarily provides more than one commodity.
A hearth provides more than mere warmth. It is a focus; a place that gathered the work and leisure of a family and gave the house a center.
Skill is required.
Diagram Here
A focal thing is something that provides meaning about the world, something that is orienting and reassuring.
A focal practice ensures the stability and security of that thing.
Other examples:
Diagram Here
The notions of liberation and enrichment are joined in that of availability.
Something is available in this sense if it has been rendered...
Devices dissolve the coherent and engaging character of the pre-technological world of things.
In a device, the relatedness of the world is replaced by a machinery, but the machinery is concealed, and the commodities, which are made available by a device, are enjoyed without the engagement with a context.
A commodity is truly available when it can be enjoyed as mere end.
The machinery of devices, unlike the context of things, is necessarily unfamiliar.
The function of the device, on the other hand, and the commodity it provides are available and enjoyed in consumption.
Commodities are contextless
| Focal things/practices: | Devices: |
|
|
“To consume is to use up an isolated entity without preparation, resonance, or consequence”
People are freed not necessarily for excellence, but for more commodities.
- by adopting self-consciously critical views of things around us
- by reaching back to times before the pattern become pervasive
Many people move daily into and out of the background of technology.
Recovering and valuing focal things and practices (e.g. public spaces)
In his book, Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life, Albert Borgmann develops his theory of the device paradigm as a characteristic feature of modern technology. It stands for a specific pattern. In short, technology is a matter of devices that procure commodities. The car, the coffee machine, the water tap, air-conditioning, electric lines, the refrigerator, etc. All are examples of devices that procure commodities. The car yields speed, the coffee machine coffee, the water tap water, the air conditioner fresh air, the electric lines electricity, etc. These commodities are technologically available to us and are supposed to enrich our lives. They do so without imposing burdens on us. We ask for the ninth symphony of Beethoven and we put the compact disc on the CD player. We put the ignition key in our car and we have the speed we want. We turn the tap and we have clean water without delay. We dive into the refrigerator . . . and so on. It looks as if technology paves the way to the land of Cockaigne. This availability of goods is interpreted by Borgmann as the fulfilments of the promise of technology. Something is available if it has been rendered instantaneous, ubiquitous, safe and easy (p. 41). We have to take notice that this availability of commodities procured by devices belongs to the foreground of technology. This foreground has its condition in the concealment of the machinery of the devices. We use the computer as typewriter without any knowledge of the machinery of that device. It does not matter whether our watch is digital or mechanical with regard to the indication of time. We enjoy the disposal of all sorts of goods, but know nothing about the background of technology. This has far-reaching and breathtaking consequences for the labour process, the division of labor, the relation of labor and leisure, our relationship towards reality, etc. It is even more exciting to discover that this pattern of the device paradigm is to be recognized in all our societal and political processes. In this regard Borgmann s book is a stimulating eye-opener. The device paradigm stands for and teaches us a specific pattern how to deal with our problems. We want to get what we like in an easy, safe, and instantaneous way. Thus we embrace the medicalization of our life on the supposition and trust that it yields health.
A device is an artefact or instrument or tool or gadget or mechanism, which may be physical or conceptual. Includes hardware and software. According to Borgmann, it is a general trend of technological development that mechanisms (devices) are increasingly hidden behind service interfaces.
In his classic 1984 book, Borgmann introduced the notion of the device paradigm. This means viewing technology exclusively as a device (or set of devices) that deliver a series of commodities, and evaluating the technical features and powers of such devices, without having any other perspective.
Technology is thus regarded as a means to an end, an instrument or contrivance, in German: Einrichtung.
Technological progress increases the availability of a commodity or service, and at the same time pushes the actual device or mechanism into the background. Thus technology is either seen as a cluster of devices, or it isn't seen at all.