PHL 390
Philosophy
& Technology
Dr. Dennis Weiss Fall Semester, 2019
Preparatory Work Page
You'll find on this page all the preparatory work that needs to be completed prior to coming to class each day. You will find the readings on our Moodle course site or in the assigned text. Please note that this list of preparatory work is subject to revision. I recommend that you bookmark this page, return to it regularly, and remember to regularly refresh your browser.
PART ONE: INTRODUCING THE COURSE
8/27 TUESDAY
In Chapter One of Culture and Technology Slack and Wise point out that you know a lot about culture and a lot about technology. Let's see what we know. Prior to the start of the semester, discuss with your parents and/or grandparents their experiences of going to school (either high school or college) and what role technology played in those experiences. How did technology shape their experiences? Compare their experiences with technology and the culture of school with your own experiences with technology and the culture of school. What are the similarities? What are the differences? What do you think this allows you to infer about the relationship of technology and culture?
A draft of your first writing assignment is due in class today. Bring a printed copy of your reflections to class.
8/29 THURSDAY
We'll continue our introductory discussion of technology and culture. Your first Micro Essay is due today. Remember, it must be on a 4x6 index card and you should aim for a minimum of 150 words.
Read: David Nye, Technology
Micro Essay: How does David Nye's short reflections on technology help us better understand how to think about technology? Try to identify two or three key "takeaways" from Nye's essay.
9/3 TUESDAY
Does the Internet change the way we think? This was Edge's annual question back in 2010. You might be interested in checking out some of the responses. Much of the debate on this issue was kickstarted by Nicholas Carr.
Read: Nicholas Carr, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"
Micro Essay: See if you can reconstruct Carr's argument in this essay. What is his conclusion? What is the evidence he cites in support of his conclusion?
For a different take on the impact of technology on attention, you may be interested in Katherine Hayles, Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes
We'll also review our course requirements today. If you've not yet read the course policies page carefully, please do so.
9/5 THURSDAY
Debate #1: Is Smart Technology Making Us Dumb?
Listen to/Watch: The Intelligence Squared Debate, making note of the various arguments offered for and against the motion "Smart Technology is Making Us Dumb." Think about how the participants in this debate address the question of technology? Might we be able to apply some of our initial insights about technology to analyzing this debate?
The first short essay is due today, if you choose to write one on this debate. If you do not write a short essay, complete the micro essay.
Micro Essay: Who do you find yourself most agreeing with in this debate? Why?
9/10 TUESDAY
Let's discuss some definitions of technological culture. We'll consider Slack and Wise's account and an account from the historian of technology Arnold Pacey.
Read:
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Slack and Wise, Chapter 1, pages 5 - 10
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Arnold Pacey, "Technology: Practice and Culture"
Micro Essay: Let's see if we can identify some of the key elements of Pacey's definition of technology. Identify three or four key elements and briefly summarize them in your micro essay.
Think About: Let's see if we can think about how beginning from Pacey's account of technology might impact how we evaluate the intellectual technologies or smart technologies that were central to the Intelligence Squared debate.
Part Two: The Received View
We'll begin an examination of Slack and Wise's account of the received view of technology, with connections to the themes of progress, convenience, determinism, and control.
9/12 THURSDAY
Today's element of the received view: Progress
Read: Slack and Wise, Chapter 2, pages 13 - 31
Micro Essay: Watch Apple's famous Super Bowl Commercial, 1984, and analyze it from the standpoint of some of the themes raised in this chapter. How does this commercial suggest connections to the themes of progress, American culture, the digital sublime?
Think About: Be an active, critical reader as you make your way through this chapter. Think about the elements of our American story of progress. Can you identify some of the key elements of the American story of progress as Slack and Wise tell it?
9/17 TUESDAY
Let's think about convenience. Have you begun to notice how the themes of progress and convenience shape your own thinking about technology?
Read: Slack and Wise, Chapter 3, pages 33 - 47
Micro Essay: Let's challenge ourselves to identify an advertisement or advertising campaign for some piece of technology that reflects the themes of progress and/or convenience. Find an example (in print, in social media, on television) and briefly describe it and then reflect on how it deploys some of the themes we have been considering.
9/19 THURSDAY
How do the themes of progress and convenience impact domestic technologies? Today we'll read a selection from Judy Wajcman's Feminism Confronts Technology, who reminds us that we also have to think about the gendered dimension of technology.
Read: Judy Wajcman, "Domestic Technology: Labour-saving or Enslaving?" (Feel free to skip pages 91 - 95, the section on technological innovation and housework time, not especially relevant to our concerns.)
Micro Essay: What can we learn about technology and culture from Wajcman's discussion of domestic technology? See if you can identify three or four takeaways regarding technological culture from her discussion of this specific class of technology.
Think About: In this reading, Wajcman poses the question whether domestic technology is labor-saving or enslaving. How does she answer this question? Can you identify several key elements in her analysis.
9/24 TUESDAY
Debate #2: Have Dating Apps Killed Romance?
Listen to/Watch: The Intelligence Squared Debate, making note of the various arguments offered for and against the motion "Dating Apps Have Killed Romance." Think about how the participants in this debate address the question of technology? Might we be able to apply some of our initial insights about technology to analyzing this debate? Does gender play a role in this debate over technology and dating apps?
This is your second opportunity to write a short essay. If you did not write one previously, you must write one of this debate in order to stay on track in the course. If you do not write a short essay, complete the micro essay.
Micro Essay: Who do you find yourself most agreeing with in this debate? Why?
9/26 THURSDAY
Does technology determine the human being? Is technology the driving force in society? Or are our technologies merely instruments we use or abuse? Slack and Wise investigate technological and cultural determinism.
Read:
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Slack and Wise, Chapter 4, pages 49 - 58
Recommended Reading:
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Merrill Smith, "Technological Determinism in American Culture"
Micro Essay: Briefly, what would a technological determinist and cultural determinist account of dating apps look like? Can you find any instances of either in the Intelligence Squared debate? I've posted the full transcript of the debate to our course Moodle site.
10/1 Tuesday
Who is in control: human or machine?
Read: Slack and Wise, Chapter 5, pages 59 - 73
Micro Essay: As Slack and Wise discuss technology and control, they argue that to opt for either the claim that we are in control of technology or the claim that our technologies have control over us is futile. Why do they think it is futile? What does this tell us about their views of technology?
You might also be interested in this radio debate from 1939: "America's Town Hall Meeting of the Air: "Will the Machine Dominate Man?"
10/3 Thursday
Neil Postman often observed that technology was a double-edged sword. He's best known for his critique of television and its impact on American politics. He was also deeply concerned about the relationship of technology and culture. In these two chapters from Technopoly he discusses the transition from tool-using cultures to technocracies to technopoloies. Pay attention to how he describes these three stages. Postman claims that the United States is a technopology. Do you agree? We might wonder what his work implies about technological determinism and control.
Read: Neil Postman, Technopoly (selection)
Micro Essay: How would you characterize Postman's understanding of the relation of technology and culture? Given what we have read so far of Slack and Wise's account of technology and culture, how do you think they would evaluate Postman's account?
In case you're interested: All The Things You Never Even Knew You Wanted To Know About Neil Postman
Part Three: Two Responses to the Received View
10/8 Tuesday
Who were the Luddites and why are they relevant today? Those are the questions we seek to address in today's class.
Read:
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Slack and Wise: Chapter 6, pages 77 - 86
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Chellis Glendinning: Notes toward a Neo-Luddite Manifesto
Micro Essay: Ought we to embrace Glendinning's Neo-Luddite Manifesto? What do you think?
10/10 Thursday
What does the Unabomber have to do with technology? And why does Bill Joy find him so interesting?
Read:
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Slack and Wise, Chapter 8, pages 97 - 104
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Bill Joy, "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us?"
Micro Essay: Bill Joy observes in his essay that: "The only realistic alternative I see is relinquishment: to limit development of the technologies that are too dangerous, by limiting our pursuit of certain kinds of knowledge." Do you agree with him? Ought we to relinquish our pursuit of these technologies?
If you're interested in learning more about the Unabomber, digital culture, social media, and persuasion, the podcast The Stakes has an excellent three-part series on "A History of Persuasion."
10/17 Thursday
Debate #3: Video Games Will Make Us Smarter
Listen to/Watch: The Intelligence Squared Debate, making note of the various arguments offered for and against the motion "Video Games Will Make Us Smarter." Think about how the participants in this debate address the question of technology? Might we be able to apply some of our insights about technology to analyzing this debate?
This is your third opportunity to write a short essay. If you do not write a short essay, complete the micro essay.
Micro Essay: Who do you find yourself most agreeing with in this debate? Why?
You might also be interested in reading "Are Digital Games Making Us Violent, or Will They Save the World," by T. V. Reed
Part Four: Cultural Studies on Technological Culture
10/22 Tuesday
Slack and Wise begin to suggest an alternative view of technology in terms of the key theoretical concepts of articulation and assemblage.
Read:
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Slack and Wise, Chapter 9, pages 107 - 114
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For more information on Jack Kevorkian's suicide machine, CLICK HERE.
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Micro Essay: Slack and Wise and Winner offer an alternative account of technology to the received view. For Slack and Wise it is in terms of flows, connections, articulations, assemblages. For Winner it is an analogous account of technologies as forms of life. Let's return to our debates over dating apps and video games and think about what an analysis of either dating apps or video games would look like from this alternative account of technology. Selecting to focus on either dating apps or video games, what would an account of the technology look like from this alternative perspective of technologies as forms of life?
10/24 Thursday
Privacy
Debate #4: Technology and Privacy
Listen to/Watch: The Intelligence Squared Debate, making note of the various arguments offered for and against the motion "Tech Companies Should Be Required To Help Law Enforcement Execute Search Warrants To Access Customer Data." Think about how the participants in this debate address the question of technology? Might we be able to apply some of our insights about technology to analyzing this debate?
This is your fourth opportunity to write a short essay. If you do not write a short essay, complete the micro essay.
Micro Essay: Who do you find yourself most agreeing with in this debate? Why?
You might also be interested in checking out some of the many resources gathered by The New York Times for their Privacy Project. Slack and Wise identify privacy and surveillance as a key problematic of technological culture on pages 221 - 222).
10/29 Tuesday
Causality Beyond Determinism
Read: Slack and Wise, Chapter 10, pages 117 - 134
Micro Essay: I'll assign you to one of four groups and assign each of you to working on a presentation on one of the four structures for thinking about causality that Slack and Wise discussion. For your micro essay, briefly articulate the key elements of your assigned perspective on causality.
10/31 Thursday
Social Media and Democracy
Debate #5: Is Social Media Good for Democracy?
Listen to/Watch: The Intelligence Squared Debate, making note of the various arguments offered for and against the motion "Social media is good for democracy." Think about how the participants in this debate address the question of technology? Might we be able to apply some of our insights about technology to analyzing this debate?
This is your fifth and final opportunity to write a short essay. If you do not write a short essay, complete the micro essay.
Micro Essay: Who do you find yourself most agreeing with in this debate? Why?
You might also be interested in reading T. V. Reed, "Tools for Democracy or Authoritarianism?"
11/5 Tuesday
Agency
Read: Slack and Wise, Chapter 11, pages 137 - 147
Micro Essay: Select the opening statement of one of our four debaters in "Social Media is good for democracy" and drawing on Slack and Wise's discussion of causality and agency, indicate how they would evaluate those opening comments.
11/7 Thursday
Technological Mediation: We'll take a deeper dive into the notion of mediation by familiarizing ourselves with the Dutch philosopher Peter-Paul Verbeek's account of technological mediation.
Watch: Explaining Technological Mediation
Read: Peter-Paul Verbeek, Moralizing Technology: On the Morality of Technological Artifacts and Their Design
Micro Essay: Let's see if we can identify some of the key elements of Verbeek's approach to technological mediation. Identify three or key elements (the principles, tools, concepts) of technological mediation. Be prepared to discuss how they might be useful to your position paper.
You might also be interested in:
11/12 Tuesday
Articulation and Assemblage
Read: Slack and Wise, Chapter 12, pages 149 - 162
Micro Essay: Slack and Wise point out that to understand a technology as articulation is to draw attention to the practices, representations, experiences, and affects that constitute technology (p. 156). They present as an example surveillance technology (p. 153). Drawing on this model and focusing on your position paper, what elements do you need to map to one another in order to illustrate the nature of your technology?
11/14 Thursday
American Pragmatism and Technology
Read: Larry Hickman, "John Dewey as a Philosopher of Technology"
Micro Essay: Hickman describes John Dewey's account of philosophy as a tool for tuning up technology. What do you think Dewey meant by suggesting that philosophy is a tool for tuning up technology?
11/19 Tuesday
Technology, Politics, and Economics
For the next three class days, let's think about the connections between technology and politics.
Read: Slack and Wise, Chapter 13, pages 165 - 176
Micro Essay: Drawing on Slack and Wise's emphasis on the interconnections among technology, politics, and economics, how might their discussion influence or shape your work on your position paper? Can you identify several ways that their discussion of technology, politics, and economics is relevant to the issue or motion central to the position paper you are working on?
11/21 Thursday
Read: Langdon Winner, "Do Artifacts Have Politics?"
Micro Essay: Winner of course argues that artifacts do indeed have politics. What is his argument in support of this claim? See if you can identify three distinct pieces of evidence that Winner cites in support of his claim that artifacts have politics.
You may also be interested in: Langdon Winner, "Techne and Politeia"
11/26 Tuesday
Andrew Feenberg is an American philosopher. He holds the Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His main interests are philosophy of technology, continental philosophy, critique of technology and science and technology studies.
Read: Andrew Feenberg, "A Democratic Internet?"
Watch: Andrew Feenberg
Micro Essay: Feenberg's essay, like Winner's, poses a question that links a technology, the Internet, to politics, in this case, democratic politics. But it's a question. How does Feenberg answer this question? Can the Internet be considered democratic?
12/3 Tuesday
Technology and Identity
Read: Slack and Wise, Chapter 15, pages 197 - 213
Micro Essay: Slack and Wise argue that identity is entangled in technological assemblages and that the idea of who we are, how we think, and how we act is articulated within a changing technological culture. Identify several examples of how they demonstrate that the self is entangled in technological culture? How is this relevant to the position paper you are working on?
12/5 Thursday
Course Wrap Up
Re-read your initial reflections on technology and culture that you wrote at the start of the semester.
Micro Essay: At the start of the course, I asked you to reflect on your and your parent's experiences of technology and culture, especially in the context of being a college student. For your final micro essay I would like you to type a 250-word response and reflection to your initial reflections and attach them to your initial essay. Now that we have spent a semester thinking about technological culture, how would you evaluate your initial reflections on technology and culture? Has your thinking about technology and culture changed?
12/10 Tuesday
There is no class today. Use this time to work on completing your final position paper.
Your final portfolio/position paper is due by NOON on Thursday, Dec. 12. Your portfolio should include your initial position paper, your annotated bibliography, your draft, your peer review, and the final draft of your position paper. Staple all these together with the final draft of your position paper on top.
Bring your portfolio to my office (HUM 154) by NOON on Thursday, Dec. 12. You can turn your portfolio in early if you'd like by dropping it off in the containers outside my office door. No late portfolios will be accepted.