What Technology Wants

This book was very interesting as someone who grew up with technology. It’s difficult to think of life without technology when the definition of technology is relative. Technology could be defined as almost anything made or thought of by humans or another machine. A hammer or screwdriver could be seen as technology, not just a computer or the internet. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, argued “The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system. (pg. 198)” He believed technology is no longer controlled by humans and instead humans are being controlled by technology. This is why he moved to a shack with no electricity, water, or a toilet. Kelly’s term the technium incorporates all technology and how it interacts with humans and the biological world. He tries to say the technological world and the biological world are similar. The technium seems to incorporate everything since almost anything could be considered technology.

What is the technium? Do we have power over it? Does it have power over us?

The technium incorporates everything made by a mind, whether that means a human mind or a technological mind. I believe it has power over us but we have power over it too. We have power over it because we can pull the plug if we ever needed to. However technology controls us because almost anything could be seen as technology depending on your definition. We will always need tools such as a hammer or screw driver. We could unplug from television and the internet but given our current society this would be incredibly difficult. E-mail is one of the most popular forms of communication so not having it would make jobs and daily life difficult. The same is true with a cell phone. People expect to be able to get in touch with others quickly and not having a cell phone would make this nearly impossible. Therefore I believe there is a mutual control.