Technology is a broad concept that deals with a species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. In human society, it is a consequence of science and engineering, although several technological advances predate the two concepts. (Wiki)
- Values:
Values may be grouped into categories, but each are up to debate:
Healthy values and habits - Sensual and Operational Values -- Sensual values are individual values and are functional or dysfunctional to an individual's emotional survival. They are sensitive or insensitive depending upon an individual's emotional maturity. Operational values are indiviudal values and are functional or dysfunctional to an individual's physical survival. They are active or inactive depending upon an individual's physical development. Healthy values and habits are acquired through personal satisfaction, practice and personal experience.
Moral values and norms - Social and Religious/Traditional Values -- Social values are family/group values and are functional or dysfunctional to the survival of the family/group. They are nurturing or aggressive depending upon the family/group's social maturity.
Religious/Traditional values are are interpersonal values and are functional or dysfunctional to impersonal survival outside the family/group. They are tolerant or intolerant depending upon the religion's/tradition's maturity. Moral values are acquired through encouragement, instruction and interpersonal experience.
Ethical values and behavior - Economic and Political Values -- Economic values are national values and are functional or dysfunctional to the survival of the nation. They are productive or unproductive depending upon the nation's economic development. Political values are national values and are functional or dysfunctional to national surival. They are progressive or regressive depending upon a nation's political development. Ethical values are acquired through rewards, education and impersonal experience.
Historical values and conduct - Aesthetic and Theoretical Values -- Aesthetic values are human values that are functional or dysfunctional to human survival. They are are beautiful or ugly (meaningful or unmeaningful) depending upon human artistic development. Theoretical values are human values that are true or false (purposeful or irrelevant) to human survival depending upon human scientific development. Historical values are acquired through inspiration, cognition and creative experience.
All values are based on subconscious feelings and conditioning
- Belief:
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual is convinced of the truth of a proposition. Like the related concepts truth, knowledge, and wisdom, there is no precise definition of belief on which scholars agree, but rather numerous theories and continued debate about the nature of belief.
IMPACT ON VALUES:
The implementation of technology influences the values of a society by changing expectations and realities. The implementation of technology is also influenced by values. There are (at least) three major, interrelated values that inform, and are informed by, technological innovations:
Mechanistic world view: Viewing the universe as a collection of parts, (like a machine), that can be individually analyzed and understood (McGinn). This is a form of reductionism that is rare nowadays. However, the "neo-mechanistic world view" holds that nothing in the universe cannot be understood by the human intellect. Also, while all things are greater than the sum of their parts (e.g., even if we consider nothing more than the information involved in their combination), in principle, even this excess must eventually be understood by human intelligence. That is, no divine or vital principle or essence is involved.
Efficiency: A value, originally applied only to machines, but now applied to all aspects of society, so that each element is expected to attain a higher and higher percentage of its maximal possible performance, output, or ability. (McGinn)
Social progress: The belief that there is such a thing as social progress, and that, in the main, it is beneficent. Before the Industrial Revolution, and the subsequent explosion of technology, almost all societies believed in a cyclical theory of social movement and, indeed, of all history and the universe. This was, obviously, based on the cyclicity of the seasons, and an agricultural economy's and society's strong ties to that cyclicity. Since much of the world (i.e., everyone but the hyperindustrialized West) is closer to their agricultural roots, they are still much more amenable to cyclicity than progress in history. This may be seen, for example, in Prabhat rainjan sarkar's modern social cycles theory. For a more westernized version of social cyclicity, see Generations : The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (Paperback) by Neil Howe and William Strauss; Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (September 30, 1992); ISBN 0-688-11912-3, and subsequent books by these authors.
IMPACT ON ETHNICS:
Winston provides an excellent summary of the ethical implications of technological development and deployment. He states there are four major ethical implications:
Challenges traditional ethical norms. Technology often enables beyond traditional ethical boundaries. Consider the boundary conflicts caused by the implementation of abortion technology, Internet pornography, Internet file sharing, stem cell technology, among others. In each case, society's traditional ethical values are challenged as technology enables new abilities and activities.
Creates an aggregation of effects. Aggregation of effects occurs when small, seemingly harmless byproducts combine together to create great harm. The ethical dilemma is that the assignment of responsibility for the harm is difficult. For example, the burning of hydrocarbons creates very small amounts of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. However, millions of hydrocarbon burns create very large accumulations of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, creating large scale pollution. The resolution of this pollution problem, however, reaches across individual, societal and international responsibilities.
Changes the distribution of justice.
Provides great power. Technology empowers its users, sometimes at the expense of others. For example, as digital technology becomes more ingrained in our lives, the advances afforded by technology enlarges the gap between the technological haves and have-nots; the same gap that exists between those that have or can get access to information, and those that suffer for lack of that access.
Philosophical debates
Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-luddism and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, claiming that it alienates people and destroys culture; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was a concept akin and restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.
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