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

[Thomas Coles]

you mean "pretentious" and "lengthy" rather than eloquent or coherent
(Literature degree raises its ugly head)
;)

On 30 November 2010 15:36, Ben Dembroski <ben at dembroski.net> wrote:

> 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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