MIT271: Technology & Human Values

March 19, 2002:

Technology and Social Justice

Administration Tests back next week Revised reading schedule: Dyson

postponed till Thursday.

McGinn: Grounds for infringing rights

1. Survival of society

2. Effective social functioning

3. Natural resources vital to society

4. Debilitating financial cost to a society

5. Significant cultural, historical, spiritual or aesthetic value to a people

6. Highly valued social amenity

Jeremy Rifkin: Long-time activist,

especially against technology

The End of Work

The End of Work Increasing unemploymentNew jobs = low-paying & temporary

Substituting software for employeesComputer-based technologies “promise

to replace the human mind itself”Companies make more profit

Re-engineering

= “restructuring the workplace to make it compatible with high-tech machine culture”

Leads to elimination of some traditional management, compressing job categories and training employees in multilevel skills

Not loss of jobs to foreign production, because manufacturing productivity is increasing

Alarmist?Rising youth violenceNeo-fascismRadical right-wing

DiscussionHow does Griffin’s concept of

“technological maximality” relate to Rifkin’s concerns about Re-engineering?

Corlann Gee BushLike McGinn:

Sceptical of “tech-fixes” Need to think about the context in which

technology operatesRethinking popular assumptions about

technologyTechnological change itself needs to be

transformed

Tech-fix

=df technology can be used to solve all problems, even social problems

Used to rationalize inequity, when part of laissez-faire economics and discriminatory public policy

Examples?

Tech-Myths

® Partially true but oversimplified:® TRIUMPH (U.S.A)® THREAT® TOOL

Valence

= a bias; a “tendency to interact in similar situations in identifiable and particular ways”

E.g. guns (versus knives, hammers,) valenced to violence; TV, cars and microwaves valenced to individuation, trains and campfires valenced to accretion

ContextsFor technological decisions, information, and

innovation1. Design/development

• most attended• masculine

2. Use• feminine

3. Environment4. Cultural

Sex role differencesDifferent expectations, experiences, and

trainingCreate problems because men make

most decisions about technology

User Environment Effect on women’s

roles: e.g. wash

Impact assessment?

Forseeable problems eliminated in some cases

Environmental assessments required as part of technological decision-making

Sexist society affects technological valence Innovation builds the status of men’s

roles and erodes women’s

E.g. Plains Indian women: from dog to horse

E.g. Mechanization on the farm

More generally …Technology provides ADVANTAGE So we need an “equity analysis”,

applied to all contexts

Equity analysis of refrigerationDevelopmental: Solves problems caused by heat; distribution?

Manufacture?User: Commercial, medical, food preparation, better

nutrition … working livesEnvironment: agriculture, disease, pollutionCultural: Men take over women’s important roles