Is Technology Autonomous?
It is not uncommon that the issue of the nonneutrality of technoscience is confused with the issue of its autonomy. David Watson, for instance, argues that the idea that technology is not neutral logically implies not only that our concepts shape and determine technology but that the technological relations and requirements imposed by our technology also shape our concepts and social relations.[34] However, this implication can only be derived if we assume that technology is not only nonneutral but also autonomous, which it is not. An autonomous technology means that it has the ability to determine the institutional framework as well as the dominant social paradigm, either as the sole or the most important factor. But such an approach immediately raises questions like: how do we explain that, historically, similar, if not identical, technologies rested on very different political and social structures, from democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta up to a fairly democratic federation su
