Technological+Determinism

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 * Technological determinism** is the idea that technology has the ability to drive human interaction and create social change. This concept focuses on the effects and/or impacts that ICTs have on users, organizations and society. Technological determinists hold that like the weather, technology is autonomous and It causes social change. Marshal McLuhan and Jacque Ellul studied Technological determinists and introduced related arguments and theories.

=Marshal McLuhan and Technological determinism=

The theory of Technological Determinism relates to the studies conducted by Marshall McLuhan who states that we are living in a new age of technology that has never been experienced before. The people that lived through the inventions of the phonetic alphabet, the printing press, and the telegraph saw drastic improvements in the way people were able to communicate. Sometimes known as the "Oracle of the Electronic Age," McLuhan is telling people that the new electronic media is changing the way people think, act, and feel. McLuhan suspects that the current technological environment, when looked back upon, will be seen as a major turning point in the history of communication.

McLuhan was convinced that the lifestyles people live rely heavily on the way they process information. Each communication invention throughout history changed the way people thought about themselves and the world around them. Whether it be oral, written, or electronic, the communication channel changes the way we perceive the world (the medium is the message).

McLuhan predicted that advancement of electronic technology and media will change collective cognitive processes of society at large. People would move from a predominantly individualistic lifestyle instigated by the Industrial Age into a new wave of social experience coined by him as the "Global Village" where people are connected worldwide through participation in smaller communities. Electronic technology would, to an extent, facilitate a return to the oral-tactile 'tribal' mentality thereby //determining// the mode of interaction between individuals.

=Three aspects of Technological Determinism=

Technological Determinism #1

 * belief that technlogies have an overwhelming power to drive human interaction and social change
 * focus is on the effect of impacts of information communication technologies(ICTs) on users, organizations and societies
 * science is the driver of technological innovation resulting in improvements in the society and progress

Technological Determinism #2

 * belief that information communication technologies(ICTs) bring transformative shifts in society
 * technology is seen as an independent casual factor
 * technology imperative combines with the idea that people react to and accomodate technological change, but do not try to reverse it or redirect it

Technological Determinism #3

 * new world is being forced upon societies by advances in information technology
 * technological advances happen automatically and have a life of their own
 * there is a logic to technological advances which is outside our control

=External Links=

Daniel Chandler, "[|Technological or Media Determinism]"