Why ‘Technological Determinism’?!

From the dawn of the 21st century and since then, the accessibility of information and usability of interactive communication is gradually becoming eased by embracing the increasingly sophisticated technology. The advent of the World Wide Web in the late 60's opened up the possibility of what the American economist Fritz Machlup termed in a little prior to the birth of the internet; so-called 'Information society', a conceptual environment where we are living on today.

These days, Internet (and its relative technologies) are believed to be the core forces that drive our society more interactive and globally associated. No one would doubt on the usefulness of the internet as a ‘good’ medium in terms of its time and space economizing process, simply because we as the internet user all know (by empirical) that Internet has been bringing lots of convenience and availability that were not be found in the traditional old media.

However, here in this point of view, I want to make one thing to be clear. Internet has undoubtedly been the revolutionary medium in which brought a cataclysm to our society, but I am advocating that the Internet as a piece of technology has no exerting power to cause all these deeds nor does the Internet technology solely determines every single transition of our society and culture.

As opposed to the idea of 'technological determinism' coined by Marshall McLuhan and other media scholars, I rather believe that the power of change and power of raising such revolutions are created not by the internet as a technology, but by its way of application. I am a faithful believer of the theory of 'social construction of technology (SCOT)' that the technology is shaped by human society, culture, economic and politics rather than vice versa. Here I suggest one example;

'The idea of Internet as an interactive media of all sorts of text was not actually the ultimate goal sought by its original developers in the beginning. What we call 'Internet' today essentially shares a same root with the Alphanet in which its aim was to share and transmit the military information across the space within a short time. Today, Internet became an indispensable medium of our daily lives as a conductor and messenger between person and person, or between person and society. It is a ‘killer application’ in which its initial purpose of use has altered by its consumers in such an unexpected way that its creators and developers had never been thought of…’

Summarizing this point, I believe that the technology and its influential power upon society are not just decided by its value of being, but by its consumer’s way of application. Technology is like opium, because it could be both a ‘painkiller’ and a ‘man killer’ depends on the way of use. (Same way does apply to Novel's invention of dynamite bomb.. who would ever think of the irony that the profits made by selling the WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) would become used for a Novel prize for peace and literature?)

Observing this point alarms us that we have to be more circumspective of embracing the new technologies, just as what Hegel of the centuries ago had already warned us with his theory of Master-slave;

‘A master who becomes too dependent upon a slave is no longer really a master’.