Technology and Social Justice
Technology and Social Justice
Dyson discusses technological innovation, and whether it increases or decreases social justice and equality. According to Dyson, technological progress equals to societal progress. Dyson gives the case of his nursemaid Ethel whose children go to go to college. This is because technological innovation had spread to the education sectors. More literally material was now available to the public. Initially, the society confided books and education to the monasteries. Technological innovation, however, saw these educational materials move out of the monasteries and began to reach out to the ordinary citizen. A large number of the population began to enjoy education as they acquired reading skills. Regardless of the positive effects that technological innovations bring to the society, there are still critics who argue that technology has brought along negative effects. Pessimists argue that technological innovations increase social inequalities by giving the rich more power and dominance over the middle class and the poor.
Response to Pessimistic Doubts on Technological Innovations
In an effort to address the pessimist doubts over technological innovation, he reviews the difference in technology between the rich and the poor. Dyson also looks at the perception of technology as a contributing factor to social injustice. He does this by reviewing history, personal stories and technological creativity. From a historical perspective, Dyson shows how technology transformed Europe by making books available to the public. Technology such as printing also brought reform in Christianity through the emergence of the protestant reformation (Dyson, 1998). Technological innovations also led to improvement in the health sector with the introduction of vaccination, and antibiotics. Dyson also looks at the industry of synthetic materials and how technology has erased the barrier between the rich and the poor.
Just like the rich, the poor can now access fashionable clothes of synthetic fabric. Dyson gives an objective analysis over the pessimistic doubts over technological innovations. Other than indicating the positive aspects of technological innovations, he acknowledges that new technology, sometimes, leads to greater discrepancies between the rich and the poor. For instance, he points out that technological innovations in the field of medicine mostly serves to protect the rich from contagion and sickness. This is because of to the high price of these services. What Dyson tries to put across is that the emergence of new devices and technological innovations tend to serve the upper class before it gradually seeps down to the lower class (Dyson, 1998). Eventually, though, Dyson acknowledges that the technological innovations benefit the entire society.
Dyson adequately addresses the pessimist assumption of technological innovations in society. He mentions that technological innovations led to inventions of household appliances such as vacuum cleaners, dish washers and ovens, from one perspective this liberated the rich housewives from hiring servants to perform chores. Unfortunately, it also led to loss of job opportunities as households now required fewer workers. This eventuality may appear negative, but Dyson directs pessimist to another view. The servants got a chance to be liberated and independent. As they lost their jobs, more education opportunities arose. As books became more accessible to the public, the servants managed to read and get and education; an opportunity that was previously for the rich.
Dyson reviews the positive and negative aspect of technology. He mentions that just like everything else in society, a step forward in technology tends to carry with it a negative connotation. The monasteries for instance had a lot of power and authority due to their books and literary materials. Technological advancement in printing saw the rich significantly loose their authority and power. Virtually everyone in the society could access books (Dyson, 1998). From this perspective, though the printing technology has a negative impact to the monasteries, it was a step towards social equality. What Dyson tries to put across is that though there were several negative effects with the emergence of technology in the society, the overall effect was more positive than negative.
These positive effects continue to be felt to-date as technological inventions continue to arise. The emergence of computers has opened up more opportunities as the technology has exposed man to the outside world; a world of increased opportunities. The emergence of the internet and the World Wide Web has been an economic and social boost to many people in the society.In conclusion, Dyson adequately reviews the issues of technology in relation to social justice. He acknowledges that technological innovations are vital for the prosperity of individuals within societies. He also mentions that technological advancement foster social equality and reduces instances of oppression. He uses historic and personal events to show how people in society enjoyed liberation with the emergence of different technologies.
The gap between the rich and the poor significantly reduces. Dyson answers the pessimist who think that technology increase social oppression and inequality by highlighting positive and negative scenarios in history (Dyson, 1998). In fact, it is the rich and those with authority much as the monasteries and the middle class women with servants who viewed technological innovation negatively. The majority of the population got an opportunity to access better education, access commodities such as synthetics fiber and better health care. These were services reserved for the rich and those with power. One weakness with Dyson’s response is that he fails to admit that not all spheres of the society need excessive technology. Elements of socialization such as physical contact and personal relationships have been lost as a result of over reliance of technology.
Reference
Dyson, F. (1998). Technology and social justice. A Carnegie council on ethics and international affairs lecture
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