Are We Aware?

‘Imagine all the people, living without any techniques. No phone to chat on, no car to drive in. A self-made parody of the song Imagine by John Lennon adjusted to our 21^st century. Maybe weird, but nowadays the technique is not PART of our lives, it IS our life. Almost no human being can live without the accessibility to techniques. Actually the technique makes us who we are. Are we aware of that fact?

When thinking about technique, often things like new high-tech devices or machines came to our minds. But the definition of technique is way broader than new products or services. Technique can be seen as the whole societal ordering. This system includes not only the traditional technique, but also the political, economic and social techniques. Within this broad technical system is cohesion. Technique is rooted in our living climate. Take the car: the development of cars is intertwined with the creation of roads, and the importing of oil and the assembly lines we use in the factories.

By having this huge role, technique shapes our lives. It even creates its own norm, namely the norm of order and efficiency. We as human beings firmly belief that the technique can solve everything. Therefore the logic and laws of technique concern above the human responsibility. When there is something technically wrong, ‘no one’ is responsible. So the technique bans out moral values, but no one can be blamed.

The French sociologist Jacques Ellul ones said: ‘Technique never observes the distinction between moral and immoral use. It tends on the contrary, to create a completely independent technical morality.’ Here we see the link with the topics we discuss in class. The question is not: how can moral values and institutions influence technical innovation. Moreover the question is: how influences technique our moral values and institutions. Techniques shapes our thinking. The history shows us technique more and more independently takes the overhand in our society. The more rational and technical we create order, the more tensions within cultures emerge. Tensions like civil wars, the financial crises or personal problems like depression and unemployment.

Some would say this is a pessimist point of view,  but I am convinced it is something we need to discuss when talking about innovation. Saving humanity with new innovations and techniques is a beautiful goal to strive for. But we always have to keep in mind that technique is a mean, not the goal. Let our traditional morals and values be steadfast in this improvement.  Therefore let us be moral human beings, not controlled by a technical norm.   

Corné Smaal / Business Administration / Erasmus University