Martin, Joseph D. (2015) 'Evaluating hidden costs of technological change : scaffolding, agency, and entrenchment.', Techné : research in philosophy and technology., 19 (1). pp. 1-25.
Abstract
This paper explores the process by which new technologies supplant or constrain cultural scaffolding processes and the consequences thereof. As elaborated by Wimsatt and Griesemer, cultural scaffolds support the acquisition of new capabilities by individuals or organizations. When technologies displace scaffolds, those who previously acquired capabilities from them come to rely upon the new technologies to complete tasks they could once accomplish on their own. Therefore, the would-be beneficiaries of those scaffolds are deprived of the agency to exercise the capabilities the scaffolds supported. Evaluating how technologies displace cultural scaffolds can ground philosophical assessments of the cultural value of technologies.
Item Type: | Article |
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Full text: | (AM) Accepted Manuscript Download PDF (236Kb) |
Status: | Peer-reviewed |
Publisher Web site: | https://doi.org/10.5840/techne201522325 |
Date accepted: | No date available |
Date deposited: | 27 September 2019 |
Date of first online publication: | 2015 |
Date first made open access: | No date available |
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