Technology and Free Will

In a technological society, free will, if it exists, consists of the ability to say 'no' to at least some technology. Not on an individual basis, but as a society. The Amish, therefore, are one of the few groups in the modern world who may be said to possess a semblance of free will. In the rest of the world, any technology that can be built will be built. Humanity has been reduced to being the mechanism by which technology propagates itself.

@rwingett said
In a technological society, free will, if it exists, consists of the ability to say 'no' to at least some technology. Not on an individual basis, but as a society. The Amish, therefore, are one of the few groups in the modern world who may be said to possess a semblance of free will. In the rest of the world, any technology that can be built will be built. Humanity has been reduced to being the mechanism by which technology propagates itself.

Technology as a living being. Ok.

@sonhouse said
Technology as a living being. Ok.

No, but the effects are exactly the same as if it were.

@rwingett said
No, but the effects are exactly the same as if it were.

Lovelockian waffling. Take it to Spirituality.

@shallow-blue said
Lovelockian waffling. Take it to Spirituality.

I am a big fan of Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis. But I fail to see what this thread has to do with that. Or why technology's impact on free will should be relegated to spirituality.

@rwingett said
I am a big fan of Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis. But I fail to see what this thread has to do with that. Or why technology's impact on free will should be relegated to spirituality.

nothing should be relegated .... but you know... the crowds!

btw I do agree here... we are in severe danger of letting tech run our lives. Or has it already happened?
What about the third world? fence 'em off like in Brave New World?

@karoly-aczel said
nothing should be relegated .... but you know... the crowds!

btw I do agree here... we are in severe danger of letting tech run our lives. Or has it already happened?
What about the third world? fence 'em off like in Brave New World?

What is needed is liberatory technology, not an enslaving technology. A liberatory technology would be one that is small scale, inexpensive, and easily managed and maintained by local communities. An enslaving technology is one that is capital intensive, requires a great degree of specialization, and is too large for local communities to manage and maintain. The former, also known as "appropriate technology" can be a boon to mankind. Technology for technology's sake will always tend toward the latter, which serves to undermine local autonomy, disempower communities, and foster hierarchy and centralization.