2. A Guide to the Book

A Guide to the Book

Here’s a little explanation of the structure of the book to talk you through how we are going to explore the idea of technology. There is quite a lot of overlap between different chapters, but we’ve tried to make sure that they are fairly conceptually distinct and that each of them flows into the next. We’ve also included a series of questions at the end of most of the chapters, intended to highlight some important considerations.

First, in What is it? we give a very brief introduction of the term ‘technology’, how it is defined and used, and how we will use it in the book.

Next, in A Brief History we try to get to the roots of where the modern idea of technology and its problems came from. We describe the thinking and view of the world it is based on and the implications this has had. Particularly we look at the Enlightenment and its perspective on nature.

Nature, looks at the fundamental relationship between technology and nature in a bit more depth.

In Society we examine another big theme in technology, its relationship and interaction with wider society: how they influence and are dependent on one another. In particular, we look at technological means and ends.

Then in Direction, we consider how technology progresses, how its direction is controlled and by whom.

So how have other people approached technology? What opinions and attitudes are out there? This is discussed in Politics - a quick overview of some political positions on technology.

Many have also tried to think about the principles on which technologies could be based, the ways to use them and where all of this can go wrong. This is dealt with in the next chapter, Good Tech.

Now looks at how technology relates to current social and ecological situations, such as climate change, social control technologies and struggles against capitalism.

Finally, the last chapter, The Future, delves into how things might be, how inspiration can be found in the creativity and imagination of science fiction.