“The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by steam engines from one city to another, almost as fast as birds can fly, 15 or 20 miles an hour.”
People mocked the great Oliver Evans when he uttered those words. He was right, the steam engine changed the course of human history.
Thinking of the steam engine as technology might feel a bit out of place. Today we think about technology in terms of bits that carry information. Before we go too far…
What is technology?
The definition that resonates the most to me is by the social scientist Read Bain:
“technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them.”
Technology is anything that extends the physical limits of our external and internal bodies. Anything from fire, to the wheel, to bows and arrows are all technology. As our ancestors invented more technology, humanity itself evolved from Homo Sapiens into Homo Faber – ‘Man the maker’. The invention of the wheel changed our feet forever as we use them less, our brains today are smaller than our ancestors, we just don’t need to store as much.
We often overlook the internal extensions of our abilities using technology and how they shape our senses; some get sharper and others get duller. We used to be a society where the auditory experience was the primary way in which we understood the world, then we invented writing and the alphabet. Now we do less listening, and more reading – countless emails, SMS, social media posts, books, articles. We use our ears a lot less, and our eyes a lot more to understand the world. It also means we see the world in more binary terms than our ancestors. The media philosopher Marshall Mcluhan writes in his book Gutenburg Galaxy:
“The interiorization of the technology of the phonetic alphabet translates man from the magical world of the ear to the neutral visual world.”
If technology is the extension of the body, why do we extend our bodies?
We use technology to shield us from the harsh realities of the natural world so we can build the world we want without limits.
I think it is quixotic to talk about nature as though it is peaceful and welcoming, when the history of nature is every bit as violent as the history of humanity. Nature is nihilistic, if you are lucky it will bring you floods, famine and fire, worse yet the fate of all species seems to be eventual extinction. Our ability to develop technology gives us a chance to fight back. Technology helps us play offense and defense, by providing for us and shielding us from nature.
Technology creates and destroys
In Greek mythology, The great Titan Prometheus stole fire from the Gods so he could bring it to humanity to advance mankind. For his efforts he was punished by Zeus who sentenced him to being bound to a rock for a lifetime, then Zeus sent one of his eagles to eat his liver. His liver then grows back overnight then the eagle comes back the next day and eats his liver again in a continuous loop for eternity.
The lesson here is the paradox of technology being the solution and the problem. Technology has lifted billions out of poverty, but the same technology left unchecked will destroy us. It overtakes our very nature too fast – we become more biased, more dependent on it and eventually it strips us of agency, and we end up with a version of humanity we never wanted. We need to be aware so we dull the effects we do not want.
“The new always happens against the overwhelming odds of statistical laws and their probability, which for all practical, everyday purposes amounts to certainty; the new therefore always appears in the guise of a miracle” – Hannah Arendt, The Human condition.
Which brings me back to this moment we are in. Yes game changing technology is probably here. Which means it is inevitable that what it means to be human is changing. When does this all materialize? I do not know. I do know it will fundamentally change us for the better and for the worse.
As always thought and criticisms are always welcome.
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