Hans Lenk on technological responsibility and the humanities

Technology & Society

Keeping the humane side of technology: the state and future of technology in today's techno-centric society

In the article entitled, "Technological Responsibility and the Humanities," author Hans Lenk discussed the state of technology in today's society, a period where techno-capitalism prevails as the dominant political, cultural, and economic order. As the most dominant and prevalent state of today's society, techno-centrism -- more specifically, techno-capitalism -- has penetrated people's cultures, influencing the way they conduct their lives and develop their beliefs and attitudes about their realities. These observations became Lenk's foundation in developing an argument that proposes the state of technology in the future. Moreover, he applied his discussion of technology and its future on the role that humanities play in these socio-cultural changes in human society.

In discussing and analyzing these issues, Lenk presented two objectives from his discourse. The first objective established the characteristics that technologies will have in years to come. Technology in the future will, generally, have increased interaction among people, be technically synthesized, and improve human society's acknowledgment and practice of their privacy, security, and identity. The second objective consequently illustrates the future of human society in the midst of an ever-changing technology. The future of technology will depict human society as becoming more complex yet human-centric as technologies will be used for the improvement of one's quality of life and practice of freedom.

These objectives, when synthesized, result to the article's general argument, which showed how the development of technology actually leads to the establishment of a more humane yet rationalized society. In the texts that follow, these objectives are presented with support from information discussed in Lenk's article.

Lenk's idea of the future of technology was best summed up in his thirty (30) "structural characteristics." Among these characteristics, those that pertain to technologies' interactivity, ability to synthesize, and capability to improve human conditions emerged as the most important traits that technology can potentially have. In terms of its interactivity, Lenk discussed the development of new inventions that would help shape the social order of the future. The future of technology would involve the creation of an "information-technological historicity" and "systems technocratic tendencies." These concepts referred to the potential role that technology can play in fully 'automating' systems and structures in the society. In fact, with the help of technology, documentation and basic services would be attended to with superior efficiency and objectiveness.

Another appeal that technology has was its ability to undergo synthesis, simply by integrating together different functions to form a technology that is multi-functional. This characteristic is presently demonstrated through Internet technology, where the audio-visual appeal of TV and radio are combined with the depth of information contained in newspapers, forming a new medium where information and audience appeal are taken into consideration and improved.

Lastly, Lenk emphasized the importance of technologies in bringing about the improvement of humanity. The development of technologies and its proliferation made people contemplate and think about the implications that resulted from them. The author's observation showed that humans have become more conscious of their security and privacy as a result of new technologies, not to mention the enhancement and creation of new identities for people using them. Moreover, technological advancement raised new issues such as questions about the distribution and limitations of these technologies, as well as responsibilities that people must have in using them.