Domination by Technology

According to modern self-understanding, the industrial revolution was important because of the way it increased human productivity and, consequently, secured human welfare. Accordingly, much philosophy of technology has established the optimistic understanding that technology, together with science, is a reliable engine of progress. However, technology does not operate as a transparent tool that we human beings can dominate and freely use for our selected purposes. Technology enters into human life; it enters the human being; it transforms society. Technological rationality formats production processes, management approaches, and economic strategies. To a critical philosophy of mathematics, it is important to consider how the implementation of a mathematics-mechanical worldview might serve particular political and economic priorities, and how this view shapes our living conditions.