[ELECTRON] GLASGOW STUDENTS AGAINST CUTS: Monday 29th November: New Glasgow-wide day of education/planning against cuts and for resistance

[Ben Dembroski]

Yup.  

A much more eloquent and coherent way of saying:

>	IMHO, politics enter the equation when the tech is used,
>         consumed or referenced within the wider context of human
>         interactions
>         and power relationships.

:)

On Tue, 2010-11-30 at 15:12 +0000, Thomas Coles wrote:
> In my opinion:
> 
> Technologies are tools designed to manipulate our environments, they
> change one thing into another thing.
> 
> The end for which they are designed, when political, makes the tool
> political. A microchip is a tool to process information more quickly -
> it usurps human minds and human abilities. When we have reached a
> stage where we can no longer write or design computer (machine) code
> directly, when we have programming 'languages', we have reached a
> stage where the vocabulary is more important than the tool. The very
> idea of repetition, of loops, of unending sequences, of the continual
> increase in complexity of knowledge and possibility, the computers'
> cold equivalence of data types. 
> 
> For me all these things are political, they mediate our understanding
> of the world and our understanding of each other. The fact that we
> have the luxury of these technologies, and others don't (that we have
> drones that can kill-at-distance with no risk) is political. Can we
> have iPods and Macs without the suicides at Foxcom? Computers are
> going to become more expensive due to Chinese embargos on rare-earth
> metals. In the end these tools do not exist in a vacuum, someone made
> them, someone designed them. If we use the Internet without
> remembering that it is a cold-war outgrowth, don't we risk buying into
> ideas we might not be aware of?
> 
> The politics is contextual of course, but not only this, the types of
> tools available emerge from needs and ideas not necessarily our own.
> When Microsoft releases Genuine Advantage, or refuses to allow DVDs to
> play on their software due to copyright, these things are no longer
> tools, but also have inbuilt promotion of certain ideologies.
> 
> Tom
> 
> On 30 November 2010 14:57, Ben Dembroski <ben at dembroski.net> wrote:
>         The can be, but it certainly resides on a sliding scale with a
>         huge
>         range.
>         
>         The use of Twitter by Iranian protesters is more political
>         than me
>         deciding to use an Arduino over a Basic Stamp to automate the
>         watering
>         of my house plants.  There's nothing inherently political
>         about
>         technology.  IMHO, politics enter the equation when the tech
>         is used,
>         consumed or referenced within the wider context of human
>         interactions
>         and power relationships.
>         
>         I would hope that any of these topics would equally welcome on
>         this
>         list.
>         
>         Equally important is the distinction that not everything
>         "political" has
>         a significant element of "technology" to it.
>         
>         --
>         Ben
>         
>         
>         On Tue, 2010-11-30 at 11:01 +0000, M.Hersh wrote:
>         > Hi,
>         > I would also point out that technology itself and its uses
>         are political.
>         > Marion
>         
>         
>         
>         
>         
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