Prompt: What’s technology? Who cares/Why should anyone care how “technology” is defined?

Properly speaking, the word technology comes from the word “[t]echnikon[,] [which] means that which belongs to techne” (Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, trans. William Lovitt, 12). The term techne has been utilized “not only for the activities and skills of the craftsman but also for the arts of the mind and the fine arts” (Heidegger, 13). Concisely, we can conceive of technology in two respects: the instrumental and anthropological sense. Essentially, “[technology] is a means and a human activity” (Heidegger, 5). This is not to suggest that it’s as simple as this, but it’s not incorrect either.

Care or interest regarding the definition of technology should be extended to other terms. When we cease to care how words are defined, they become meaningless (devoid of meaning). Using this line of thought, to say “I love you” wouldn’t communicate anything substantial. It might be proper to call such speech “filler.” Or, to say, “She’s an exceptional basketball player” would cease to be a compliment if, at that point, we could even define what a compliment was. When we are talking about technology, we ought to understand what it entails and what it doesn’t. Failing to do so opens the gate to a presupposed idea of what technology is, not what it truly is. This will inhibit dialogue and sometimes prevent it. Val Dusek (2006) points out that “[m]any apparently substantive disagreements really stem from the disputants having two different definitions of what is being discussed” (What is Technology? Defining or Characterizing Technology, 26). Moreover, in Martin Heidegger’s (1977) work, The Question Concerning Technology, numerous footnotes give the reader the context and origin of what a term means. We too must recognize the importance of defining the words we use. If we don’t, it will be as if a person ate a meal without digesting the food. Simply presenting the information (or food) to someone willing to listen (or eat it) is not enough for them to comprehend (or digest) the information.

Is there a moral obligation to care how technology is defined? No, there isn’t. But, without a way to define the things around us, it would become excruciating to interact with the world and those around us. We need a foundation, and definitions like the one for technology provide that. Considering that technology is an important asset to humans and animals, why should we gloss over it? Why should we neglect to understand the meaning of a word that describes the things around us? Various things, such as phones, cars, pencils, and books, are products of and representative of technology. To dismiss technology and what it means is to disregard the importance of items that are crucial to us.