A Discourse on Technology and Control
By Walter Muma
August 2, 1985
[March 2004: Please note that this
essay is at best only a cursory treatment of the topic. Many
major points are only touched upon, others are omitted
altogether. The essay was written for a college level course
called "Culture", and thus was limited in how long it could
be.
This essay was written in the days prior to widespread use
of gender-neutral language. Thus I use the terms "Man" and
"Mankind" to refer to Humans as a whole, and the word "he"
and "his" usually refer to "him and her", "his and hers".
This essay was inspired by the writings of Lewis Mumford, in
particular his book, "Technics and Civilization."]
Author's Note
Throughout this essay I have striven to give proper
credit to the sources from which I obtained ideas. However,
during many years of reading I have forgotten the original
source and stimulus of some of the ideas that I have
formulated and expressed herein. Over the years they have
been assimilated into my consciousness where I have turned
them over, digested them, and used them as bases for new
thought. During the course of writing this essay I have
drawn upon fresh sources and these have enabled me to bring
many of these thoughts together into a coherent whole. To
the sources which I most recently used and give credit to in
this essay, I offer thanks. To those whom I have forgotten
due to the passage of time and volume of material, I offer
my apologies.
Due to the vastness of the topic, this essay is
necessarily brief and concise in certain areas. Therefore I
invite the reader to expand further upon the ideas in this
essay on his or her own.
Introduction
During the past three hundred years the world has seen an
increasing use of machines and technology by Man. In fact,
today we live in a world that is dominated by machines,
particularly in the industrialized nations. This use of
machines by Mankind has given him unprecedented control over
his environment. Control here refers to the ability of
Mankind to structure, manipulate, and guide his environment
to his own ends. Yet, paradoxically, while he has gained
this heightened collective control over his environment
through the use of technology, there has also been a
considerable amount of control lost due to this same
technology. This is because of the fact that such large
scale technological control requires an even larger
superstructure, or social system, to support it. The
largeness and complexity of this system has caused parts of
it to get out of society's control, and we see the effects
of this in things such as pollution and the arms race. As
well as this, the individual in society has also lost a
certain amount of control, becoming a mere "cog in the
machine," with diminishing control over his or her destiny,
subjugated to the needs of the system. The outcome of this
has been alienation from basic human values, frustration,
and separativeness from others.
In this essay, the term "technology" refers to the
conception, construction and refinement of tools and
machines and the techniques involved in using them.
"Environment" refers mainly to the natural environment of
the Earth, but also includes the environment of society.
Why and How is
Control Pursued by Mankind?
From the very beginning of his time upon Earth, Mankind
has sought to exercise control, over his environment. In
fact, it has been the only way for him to survive.
Relatively defenseless physically, his only protection
against the natural forces that sought to destroy him, such
as animals and the weather, was to attempt to either control
them directly or to defend himself against them (which is
also a form of control).
To do this, early Man utilized his relatively large brain
capacity and his creativity to develop extensions of
himself. These extensions were the various tools that he
developed to achieve his ends. For example, to protect
himself against predators, Man developed weapons, and
protective enclosures such as caves and walls. For
protection against the weather, Man lived under roofs and
made warm and waterproof clothing. In order to secure
reliable food and water supplies he started farming and dug
wells. In order to accomplish all of this, he needed
constant and reliable supplies of materials, such as wood
and stone. His tools required their own further supply of
materials for their construction. Through these methods of
control, Mankind ensured his survival against all kinds of
odds, and has been remarkably successful on this planet in
terms of species survival.
However, during the past few centuries this control has
been extended far beyond Mankind's needs for survival.
Today, Mankind uses not only tools, but machines. This is an
important thing to note in terms of loss of control. A tool
is not able to function except as a direct extension of a
person, under his or her direct control. A hammer, for
example, lies inert until someone lifts it, holds onto it,
and swings it. A machine, on the other hand, is able to
function on its own, away from the direct and constant
supervision of Man. Thus it is independent and distinct from
Man. Computerized and roboticized machines are able to
operate even more independently. A tool cannot get out of
Man's control, whereas a machine, because it can function on
its own, can.(1)
Today, the people of all industrialized nations are
literally surrounded by things produced by man's tools and
machines which are not necessary for their survival. In
order to produce these things, Man has had to exert
tremendous and far-reaching control over his environment.
This control has become so great and extensive that
"domination" would be a much more appropriate word for it.
This domination, fueled by the power of technology, is made
all the more pronounced by Mankind's large numbers.
A question that needs to be asked is, "Why has control
extended so far beyond Man's needs for survival?" Could it
be derived from his love of power and domination, fueled by
his large ego? Or is the source of it his strong selfishness
and greed? Or could it be a longing for comfort and a desire
to provide this comfort for loved ones? Most likely it is a
combination of all of these aspects of human nature. A
comprehensive investigation of this question is beyond the
scope of the present work.
Sources
and Causes of Loss of Control
The aforementioned elements of human nature have
manifested through various factors contributing to a loss of
control during the past few centuries. Some of the more
significant factors are: the Cartesian world-view, the role
of the Protestant Church and the profit motive, the nature
of machines, and the insertion of machines into the
human-to-human exchange. It is these factors which have both
enabled an excess of control and a subsequent loss of
control to take place.
Cartesian World-View
Perhaps the most fundamental factors leading to the loss
of control by society were the philosophies of Rene
Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton of the seventeenth century.
These views, known collectively as the Cartesian/Newtonian
view, compartmentalized the universe into many different
little parts, all somehow related. The universe was regarded
as a gigantic "machine," running along on its own like
clockwork. Every part of it could be split off from the
whole and examined on its own to determine its function. The
parts of the whole were regarded as being important,
rather than the whole itself; "wholes" were merely
made up of "parts." According to this view, everything in
the universe was quantifiable and measurable, reducible to
Man's measurements and numbers.(2) Even Man himself
was so regarded. The human body was a "machine," composed of
many parts which in some mysterious way were interrelated to
form a functioning person.
Although the Cartesian view is an excellent tool for
analysis of large systems, this view of the world was
accepted as being the "true" model of how the universe was
constructed and ran, and so it came to dominate the world
view of Mankind. Since the seventeenth century there has
been widespread adoption of this philosophy in every aspect
of Man's existence. People's lives are now seen as being
composed of events that they experience and participate in,
and lifetimes as being composed of periods that they go
through. The Cartesian attitude of separativeness has had a
tremendous effect on people's attitudes towards each other,
as well as on Man's attitude towards his environment. Prior
to the adoption of this world-view, Man felt himself to be
living with the land, rather than on it. He
lived as a member of a People, rather than as an individual
in society. In the Cartesian world-view, people are seen as
being distinctly separate from each other.
The Cartesian view of a mechanistic universe also
provided the justification for Man's mechanization of the
Earth and of himself. Since the universe ran like a machine
and was composed of "parts," so also was the Earth. Thus Man
felt quite justified in splitting off little pieces of the
Earth to use for his own ends, which were seen as further
extensions of the "universe machine."
Role of the Protestant
Church
The world-view of the Protestant Church has had a
profound influence in the development of conditions leading
to the loss of control by Mankind over his environment. Most
significantly, the Church taught that there was virtue in
success in the material world. To amass wealth, to work
hard, to expand and conquer were held as admirable
ambitions, looked upon favourably by God and the Church.(3)
From this the well-known Protestant Work Ethic evolved, a
philosophy that has dominated the European intrusion into,
and growth in, North America.
Coupled with this was the regimentation imposed by the
Church upon the life of society, particularly that of
structured time. The Church propagated the measurement of
time through the use of bells in its monasteries and
churches. These bells rang regularly at set times throughout
the day, thus dividing the day into distinct segments. As
people started to order their day according to these
segments, the Church became the regulator of all of
society's events.(4) In order to emulate this, and to
more accurately keep track of the passing of time, the clock
was invented, refined, and made available to everyone. Thus
began the widespread use of the clock in society, and all of
the artificial structure associated with the measurement of
time. This was a significant factor in the removal of Man
from his natural flow with Nature. A natural day is not
composed of individual events put together into a whole.
Rather, it flows smoothly from sunrise, past high noon, into
sunset, through night and into another sunrise. It is one
continuous, unbroken whole. The clock subdivided this
continuum into parts, consistent with the Cartesian
world-view. This structuring and division was very important
in the extension of Man's control over his environment. Not
only the physical world, but time itself was split into
parts, quantified, and used to his own ends. Another effect
of this was the change from a cyclical (whole) view to a
linear view of time. Because of this division into parts, a
day "started" and "ended," and each day was separate and
distinct from every other. This alienated Mankind even
further from a "whole" view of life and the universe.
From these basic concepts arose two subsidiary factors
which fundamentally influence society today. These were the
profit motive and the concept of work. The Divine blessing
given by the Church of the pursuit of material gain gave
rise to the profit motive in commerce. Instead of serving
their fellowmen, people strove to take as much as possible
from each other in business dealings. This created an
atmosphere of "every man for himself," rather than, "every
man for society." The eagerness with which this was pursued
caused runaway control of the environment to take place in
the pursuit of self-gain.
The concept of work was initiated by this pursuit of
material wealth coupled with the Cartesian separation of
life into "parts." People went to "work," a distinct and
separate activity. If people were to acquire material
wealth, it was necessary for them to devote time to this
pursuit, and time thus spent came to be known as "work."
So-called primitive peoples, living with the natural flow of
Nature, do not have a word for "work." What we regard as
"work" they regarded as part of the flow of life, necessary
in order to continue living, and it was a joyous activity.
Their control extended only to what they required to live:
excess was unknown.(5) The acquisition of material
wealth went beyond the needs of survival; people had to
"work" for it. Thus, in the development of the concept of
"work" there was already appearing an excess of control,
leading into loss of control.
Accompanying this separation of "work" from "living" was
a loss of respect for the natural environment. So-called
primitive peoples have an immense respect for their
environment. In fact, they respected all of the universe,
since they regarded themselves as an inseparable part of
that whole. Through the separation of "work" from "living,"
Man lost this respect. he no longer regarded himself a part
of the whole of life, working along with it, but as
something different, distinct from it, doing things to
it. With this view, people became able to ignore any effects
of their actions that "spilled over" into other "parts" of
the environment. Economists today continue to conveniently
ignore these effects by dismissing them as
"externalities."(6)
The final expression of the Protestant Work Ethic and
profit motive is found in the rise and present day
continuance of capitalism. This system encourages the
all-out pursuit of material wealth at almost any cost. This
is one of the strongest elements in the loss of control
presently experienced by mankind.
Increase in
Abstraction
Another important factor contributing to the loss of
control by Man has been the increase in the abstraction of
real, functional things. The most obvious and influential
example of this is money, which has come to mean more than
that which it represents. It is in this way that Man has
placed value in things that do not functionally exist,
removing him a step away from direct interaction with things
of functional value.(7) Money, of itself, is
completely worthless and nonfunctional -- an abstraction of
what it represents. It only becomes functional when it is
exchanged for something "real." In placing such a high value
in an abstraction, great potential exists for loss of
control because of this removal from the "real."
Insertion of
Machines Into the Human-to-Human Exchange
Whenever two or more people interact, whether socially or
in commerce, verbally or visually, there is an exchange
between them. As machines become used more and more in
society, they become inserted into this exchange. Examples
of this in our society abound: the telephone inserted into
the person-to-person verbal communication exchange, the
typewriter to write letters, the cash register to place
value on goods, and computerized banking machines that take
the place of a live person, to name a few. Whenever there is
a machine inserted into this exchange, a part of the element
of human contact is lost. As society becomes used to these
intrusions, human values start to erode because of
increasing distance between people. Loss of these values, as
well as having functions taken over by machines, leads to a
loss of control, especially by the individual over his or
her environment.
The extreme case of this process of machines taking over
human functions is the personalization of and identification
with machines. People's identification with their
automobiles and the universal personification of machines as
being female are well-known examples of this. This is
presently being made even more pervasive by the computer,
which can be programmed to simulate human voices and
behavior. Through the process of identification and
personification, the machine is brought to the human level,
becoming less of a cold, independent object in the process.
On one hand, it would seem that this would bring the machine
more under Man's control, and it does. But on the other
hand, since Man becomes identified with the machine, he is
no longer separate from it, and he starts to lose his sense
of self. A person who loses his or her sense of self
experiences a loss of control, since it is that sense of
self which gives a person direction. So, although the
control is won, it is, on the other hand, lost to an even
greater degree.
It must be noted, however, that in and of itself,
technology and machines are harmless, neutral. It is the
use to which they are put that causes them to be harmful
or beneficial. It is the attitude towards them that
allows Man to either lose or preserve control over his
environment.(8)
Loss of
Control
Introduction
The increasing use and predominance of machines and
technology by Man has given him unprecedented control over
his environment. He has been able to structure the natural
world to suit his ends and to protect himself from harm to
an extent never before possible. Yet at the same time, the
vast and complex system that supports these machines and
technology has acquired a life of its own, and has started
to drift out of Man's control. The system that was created
by Man to function as a tool has turned into an
independently running machine.
Society has become structured around the functioning of
this system and the individuals in society have been caught
up in it, becoming "cogs in the machine." The smooth
functioning of the system has become more important than the
fate of the individual. It is in this manner that people
have lost control over their individual lives and destinies.
Loss of Control on the
Individual Level
After material wealth and profit were proclaimed as being
virtuous by the Church, people threw themselves into their
pursuit. With development of more advanced technologies and
machines and the rise of commercialism, this rush for
material possessions became even more pervasive. As more and
more commercial links developed and transactions became more
complex, a system developed to facilitate this
commercialism. Soon, the individual became part of this
system, dedicated to the pursuit of its goals. With this
identification came a corresponding loss of identification
with one's self and human values, giving rise to a sense of
separateness and alienation of people from one another. The
removal of people from a life spent working with the land
and natural things to a life spent working with non-natural
things has also contributed to this. Value became placed on
things which were abstract and not functionally valuable,
such as money.
Cut adrift from real, human values, and caught up in an
impersonal, compartmentalized system, people experience
feelings of helplessness and passivity when they realize
that they have lost control over their own destinies. They
become "dead" inside. They must serve the system in
order to survive. The separation of people's lives into
'work" and other compartmentalized activities reinforces
these feelings. Added to this is the regimentation imposed
by time and its associated machine, the clock. Society
itself reinforces all of this regimentation by holding up
expectations and values that the individual within it must
adopt. This especially apparent in large urban centres which
are dedicated to the functioning of this system. Another way
in which control has been lost by the individual is through
specialization. Machines perform specific tasks, and it is
cheaper and more efficient to have people perform specific
tasks as well. Through specialization, general skills are
lost, and individuals become les able to adapt to alternate
circumstances. This also contributes to a narrowing of
outlook, and therefore unwillingness to change. Also, when
people work more with machines than with people and other
natural things, they tend to identify with the machines that
they work with. In these ways a large measure of control has
been lost by the individual.
Loss of Control on the
Collective Level
The most obvious sign that this technological,
material-producing, profit-motivated system has gotten out
of Man's control is the widespread pollution of the
environment caused mainly by technological processes.
Systems which are under control do not discharge
unmanageable and harmful effluents into their environments.
The only reason that this situation is accepted by Man is
because of the compartmentalized Cartesian world-view of the
Earth. Technological production is seen as happening in one
particular place, and the waste products are seen as going
"elsewhere" (the economists' "externalities"). This
pollution later surfaces in one's "own backyard." An ongoing
example of this is the pollution experienced in the Great
Lakes (of southern Ontario, Canada), which surfaces on their
beaches.
Mankind as a whole seems to have an implicit faith in
technology to solve any problem. Man has moved from having
faith in the real, himself, to having faith in the abstract,
technology. This causes a further loss of control, since the
technological system functions relatively independently of
Man.
Control is also lost by the manipulation of individual
and collective thought and behavior by the system. In order
that society continue to serve the system, it must be
reminded to do so through the media. This is evident in the
large amount of advertising that takes place in urban
centres, as well as in the media. Everywhere that one looks,
there are large posters and billboards reminding us to
purchase things that the system has produced in order to
keep the system going. Thus the individual and collective
will is pushed aside by the will of the system.
One very obvious way in which this has happened is the
international arms race. Governments of the world's most
powerful nations continue to build powerful destructive
weapons even while their citizens almost universally want to
live out their lives in peace. This is another manifestation
of the separativeness which is encouraged by the Cartesian
world-view; the separation of the people from their
government, and of nation from nation.
Finally, it must be borne in mind that a society is made
up of the individuals who comprise it. If the individuals of
a society lose control over their environment and destiny,
then that society loses a measure of collective control.
The Future
Looking towards the future, one cannot help wondering
what further changes in society technology will bring about.
With the current widespread growth of computers, which are
extremely advanced, almost completely self-functioning
machines, it seems as though technology and its system will
finally be able to permeate every facet of our lives and
existence. This will herald the final loss of control and
the ultimate "inside death" of human life, and of human
values and control. Yet, on the other hand, computer could
just as easily free people from enslavement to the machine
and technology, as they take over more and more aspects of
production. Freed from this work, people would then be able
to renew and pursue human-to-human interactions to their
fullest once again.
Thus the future appears to be either utterly bleak or a
radiant sunrise of renewal of human purpose. What actually
transpires is at present only speculation.
Conclusion
From the very beginning, Man has exercised control over
his environment in order to survive. During the past century
this control has far exceeded Man's requirements for
survival. In developing and propagating technology and its
accompanying system, Man has actually lost a fair amount of
control over his environment, both individually and
collectively. This loss of control has caused many
difficulties and problems in present day society.
Properly utilized, technology and its system may be able
to bring these problems under control. But left to itself,
this system could very well destroy itself and humans
society along with it. We can choose to passively carry on
as we have up to the present, continuing to lose control in
our overall quest to gain more control. We can also choose
to stand up now and again take charge of our individual
destinies as well as the collective destiny of society and
Mankind. This is the more difficult, yet infinitely more
rewarding path. Which path shall we take? The choice is ours
to make.
Bibliography
Capra, Fritjof. The Tao of Physics. New York: Bantam
Books, 1977
Henderson, Hazel. The Politics of the Solar Age. New
York: Anchor Books, 1981.
Mumford, Lewis. Technics and Civilization. New York:
Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1934.
Shallis, Michael. The Silicon Idol: The Micro Revolution
and its Social Implications. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press, 1984.
Suzuki, David. A Planet for the Taking. Toronto: CBC
Television, 1985. |
