09.05.2017
- On page 5, of Heidegger’s The Question Concerning Modern Technology, he mentions that “The will to mastery becomes all the more urgent the more technology threatens to slip from human control”. What does Heidegger mean by “slip from human control”? Is he implying that this loss of control would be due to a reduction of understanding (“mastery”) of it among the general population, a lack of self control of man’s ambition, or both (or by extension, perhaps even the currently fictional notion of a more extensive future Artificial Intelligence)? If by the given definition that technology is both a means to an end and a human activity, does this hypothetical impending lack of human control within modern technology somewhat contradict this, or do we merely act as ‘prime movers’ for modern technology as Heidegger implies (pgs. 18-19)?
- On page 33 of “Springs of Mechanization”, Gideon mentioned the ability of Alexandrian inventors to combine simple machines to carry out complex functions for phenomenological and theatrical religious purposes (referencing “automated” temple gates and plays). Has this use of technology conceptually faded into the notion of mechanized production throughout history (as in, through the more generalized proliferation of technology over time), or does it have a place today?
- On pages 42-43 of “Springs of Mechanization”, Gideon discusses the “birth of new values” and other sociological effects brought upon by mass-production technology (i.e. driving culture, the cinema, food packaging, etc.). Did mass-production act as a catalyst for these changes, or did it directly have a hand in creating some of them?
