Technology as Politics and Culture - Essay Example

Technology as Politics and Culture Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts Richard Scolve’s Polypotency of technology Technology is primarily designed to fulfill some specific functions but most of the times it also has some secondary functions and effects on our lives. By polypotency of technology Richard Scolve means the existence and influence of technology on society. He believes that technology not only defines but also sets limits on human interactions. (Morton Winston, 2011) Richard Scolve talks about the polypotency of technology because according to him technology has innumerable social meanings and effects.

Technology is useful in a lot of ways. Technology is playing a greater role in our lives with the passage of time and with time our awareness of its influence on our lives also vanishes and we just stop looking for alternative ways to do things. Scolve believes that its essential for people to seek for alternative technologies which would be more in line with our aspirations and ideals. Importance of polypotency of technology I think technologies in some way assist in regulating the social behaviors because technology is governed by political and physical laws.

For example, technologies like X-ray machines and automobiles are legally regulated and if they are misused then that could result in a penalty enforced by society. Not just this, the penalty of misusing technology could also include systems failures and economic loss. This is how I think technology helps in structuring human behavior. Not only this, technology also has an impact on the third parties which are also known as its spill over effects. Many examples can be included here. We can hear our neighbors playing their radios or using their lawn mowers.

People living near an industrial facility breathe noxious fumes. (Morton Winston, 2011) Therefore, I believe there are many technological pathways that are competing and each of them socially developed. However a given technology or social structure’s flexibility diminishes with time. An example of the polypotency of technology could be of a man who uses a hammer to pound nails into a wall. When he is doing that he learns a lot of thing like the texture and other properties of materials, he also builds his muscles, he is causing noise pollution while his competence at hammer is growing.

And the material result of this hammering would include some scrap wood, some bent nails, some strengthened muscles, or maybe a thumb that is bruised and finally a product that becomes a part of the world. Therefore technology is polypotent in all its social meanings, effects and functions. (Morton Winston, 2011) Importance of polypotency of technology reflected on our relationship with technology What is more important is the transformative and dynamic effect of these externalities of technology.

An example of this could be a person who decides not to buy a lawn mower because of its noise however when a few neighbors buy it this person would rethink as he is being affected by the noise anyway he would prefer buying one for himself and avail the benefits also. The total effect of the society’s technological decisions and choices in some way or the other affects every member of the society. Undeniably technology influences the social experience but not just this; it also exerts other cultural influences like symbolic influences.

Particularly the communication devices like cellular phones, radios and television.(Morton Winston, 2011) Bibliography Morton Winston, R. E. (2011). Society, Ethics, and Technology . Boston: Clark Baxter.