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Transformative power of technologies: cultural transfer and globalization

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Abstract

In the last three decades, a cultural perspective has been used to understand scientific knowledge and technology. This relatively new perspective has introduced literature on the ethical dimension to the development of technology, which are embedded in techniques, tools and artifacts. Today, more than ever, there is an urgent need to comprehend the global ramifications of modernization. In this paper, we make an attempt to look at science and technology based on culture, wisdom, ecology and ethical values. We move towards reviewing and consolidating significant literature on philosophy of technology and culture within contemporary times. Furthermore, this article touches upon the transformative power of technologies in relation to modernity.

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Notes

  1. As can be seen, in each set of human-technology relations, the model is that of an inter-relational ontology. This style of ontology carries with it a number of implications, including ones which imply that there is a co-constitution of, for example, humans and their technologies (Ihde 2009: 44). Technologies transform our experience of the world and our perceptions and interpretations of our world, and we, in turn, become transformed in this process. Transformations are non-neutral. And it is here that histories and any empirical turn becomes effectively ontologically important. This, in turn, returns us to the pragmatist insight that histories are also important in any philosophical analysis as such (Ihde 2009: 44). Postphenomenology continues the phenomenological tradition of relationalistic ontology. In the case of technologies, for example, humans may “invent” technologies, but in use, all technologies also “re-invent” humans. Co-constitution is recognized in a relational ontology. But, such relational ontologies are not unique to phenomenology—they are part of the family of pragmatic [organism/environment] and actor network [humans and non-humans] ontologies as well. Variational analyses provide the methodological style of this approach. With technologies, there are multiple ways in which any single technology may be related to users and multiple ways in which each technology is culturally embedded.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Management Institute New Delhi, B10, Tara Cresent, Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi, 110016, India

    Mrinmoy Majumder

  2. Central University of Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221007, India

    Arun Kumar Tripathi

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  1. Mrinmoy Majumder
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  2. Arun Kumar Tripathi
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Correspondence to Mrinmoy Majumder.

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Majumder, M., Tripathi, A.K. Transformative power of technologies: cultural transfer and globalization. AI & Soc 38, 2295–2303 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01144-w

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