Heidegger makes the point that technology is a mode of revealing, as are aesthetics, politics, religions, culture etc. Yet it holds a monopoly over truth (the non-fallibility of the scientific process) and operates in a way that excludes all other modes of reveal. He states that “technology is not equivalent to the essence of technology.... everywhere we remain un free and chained to technology, whether we passionately affirm or deny it" (287). Technology in its essence is a mode of reveal, a way for man to access truth. This point speaks to the collective tendency to regard technology as neutral, empirical, objective, (its essence) which negates its function as a man made and man used tool, and consequently something susceptible to human failings and errs. This speaks to a disparity between man’s use of ‘modern’ technology and technology’s essence.
But Blacks essay made me question this notion of an empirical essential technology. Is there an inherent morality to technology, separate from the moral leanings of the humans who use it? Does technology as technology have ethical truths?
I’ve also been thinking about modern technology as an “enabling vulnerability”.
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