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Arie Rip Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology School of Management and Governance University of Twente January 21, 2009 Wednesday, 4:00pm-5:30pm Wardlaw College, Travelstead Room Engineers add to the furniture of the world, and so shift its ontology. This is not a simple, linear activity of first making something, and making it available, which is then added to the world. Artifacts and technologies start as 'hopeful monstrosities', a promise of functionalities. And while they will be developed further, be introduced, and taken up on location, this will never be definitive. Technologies are configurations that work, even if always precariously. Part of their configuration is a scenario of a world in which they can function optimally. The promise of technological progress can be realized only by changing the world so that it can accommodate the new technological options, from trains and atomic energy to mobile telephony and genetically modified organisms. Technology can thus be understood as prospective ontology, in terms of new furniture of the world, as well as new structures and behaviors in the world. |
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Last updated 7/22/11 11:02 AM
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