Samuel Florman's Perspective on Electrical Technology and Human Control - Prof. Harold R. , Study notes of Humanities

Download Samuel Florman's Perspective on Electrical Technology and Human Control - Prof. Harold R. and more Study notes Humanities in PDF only on Docsity! Exploring Electrical Technology (IDST 300) Dr. Harold Underwood Samuel Florman’s responses to Anti-Technology arguments (based on Existential Pleasures of Engineering): 1) Argument: Technology is out of control; the thing or force has escaped from human control and spoils our lives. Response: Although anxiety and frustration may sometimes make us feel this way, more sober thinking reveals that technology is merely an activity in which people engage because they choose to do so. These choices may be made foolishly or unthoughtfully by some, forced on members of society by others, but technology itself does not enslave or mislead people. 2) Argument: Technology deals with the material world, and forces humans to do tedious and degrading work. Response: Both engineers and anti-technologists share ambivalent feelings towards work; we try to avoid it, yet we require it for our emotional well being. A few wealthy people become bored by not being required to work and a lot ordinary people grumble because they have to work hard. Although romanticized by anti-technologists, agricultural work of earlier times seems not preferred by many people who given the option, often choose to escape from its drudgery to do something better. Engineers seek to do experiments to make the work experience more fulfilling, by the creative process and product of technology. 3) Argument: Technology is insatiable; it forces people to consume things they do not really desire. Response: This argument assumes that consumers don’t have enough intelligence to buy what they need; rather, they become enslaved to buying only what they want. Engineers, conscious of the laws of supply and demand, choose to devote effort to supply what people want, assuming they can be smart enough to want what they need. 4) Argument: Technology benefits the wealthy and elite at the expense of the poor and the powerless; it creates an elite class of technocrats and socially disenfranchises the masses. Response: Although it is human nature that some people do take advantage of other people, does this necessarily increase as a result of the growth of