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Conceptualizing ICT
Abstract
It is necessary to conceptualize technology in general before it is possible to conceptualize information and communication technology (ICT) in particular. Like so many ideas in the Western world, the conceptualization of technology begins with Plato and Aristotle in ancient Athens, and ever since that time, philosophers have struggled with the idea that techne – translated best as “making” – involves a mysterious co-operation between imagination and reason, or, in modern terms, art and science. Technology, like storytelling, is a fundamental human activity, and technology operates at the core of all design, whether it be architecture, engineering design, or industrial design. Andrew Feenberg has established what is perhaps the dominant conceptualization of technology at the present time with his argument that technology is neither a handy tool for human mastery of the environment, nor an out-of-control external force that will ultimately destroy humanity, but a cultural phenomenon that we can employ democratically to improve our future existence. Aristotle argues that there is an essence or formal cause in anything that is made, and that this essence determines its end or final cause. Feenberg, however, argues that people determine the end of any technology by the way that they choose to use it. This difference – teleology versus democratic utilitarianism – is a theme that recurs throughout the book. This chapter ends by identifying ICT as the latest, computerized, globalized manifestation of technology’s recurring dream and promise of transforming the world that we are given into the world that we desire.
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