Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 18:01:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Scott London <london@rain.org>
Subject: THE WHALE AND THE REACTOR by Langdon Winner


Book Review:
~~~~~~~~~~~

THE WHALE AND THE REACTOR
A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology
By Langdon Winner
The University of Chicago Press, 1986, 200 pages


This collection of ten essays explores the social, political, and
philosophical ramifications of technology.  Though computer networking,
nuclear reactors, genetic engineering, the so-called appropriate-
technology movement, and a variety of other specific issues are explored
in the book, Winner's main focus is on the way we think about technology. 
He maintains that, unlike other forms of human creativity, technology has
never been considered a subject worthy of philosophical inquiry.  This is
reflected in our general approach to technology which is more concerned
with "how things work" and "making things work" than with the moral and
political significance of technical systems in themselves.  If we are to
awaken from what he calls our "technological somnambulism," a condition in
which progress is driven by technology itself rather than by the vision
and innovation of society at large, then we need a new approach -- "a
philosophy of technology" -- that examines the consequences and wider
implications of technology in our lives. 
     Winner contends that technologies are not merely aids to human
activity but also powerful forces that give meaning and direction to our
lives.  Conditions of power, authority, freedom, and social justice are
often deeply embedded in technical devices.  The physical arrangements of
industrial production, warfare, communications, etc., have not only
transformed the exercise of power and the experience of citizenship but
they have also introduced "inherently political technologies" which are,
by their very nature, centralized or decentralized, egalitarian or
inegalitarian, repressive or liberating.  "Some kinds of technology," he
writes, "require their social environments to be structured in a
particular way in much the same sense that an automobile requires wheels
in order to move." 
     Winner illustrates the dangers of our society's unquestioning faith
in technology by examining the concept of "risk" and the practice of "risk
assessment" -- one of the ways commonly used for choosing between
competing technologies.  Examining technologies solely on the basis of
risk and benefit ignores the larger moral and political dimensions, he
argues.  Moreover, by substituting "risk" for the more straightforward
concept of "danger" current debates about issues such as environmental
policy shift the burden of proof to those who resist technological
innovation. 
     He also looks at the "optimistic technophilia" that characterizes
much of the current interest in electronic democracy.  The notion that new
forms of electronic discourse, such as computer networking, will produce
increased democratization, participation, and social equality does not
stand up to scrutiny, he insists.  Not only have empirical studies shown
that powerful groups tend to use new technologies to retain political
control, but the whole idea is grounded in a faulty understanding of
democracy.  Proponents of electronic democracy subscribe to the belief
that democracy is first and foremost a matter of distributing information. 
They maintain that more people need more information because information
is knowledge, knowledge is power, and therefore methods to increase access
to power automatically enhance democracy and equalize social power.  This
is a myth, according to Winner.  Genuine democracy involves the pursuit of
common ends through discussion, deliberation, and collective decision, not
"logging onto one's computer, receiving the latest information, and
sending back an instantaneous digitized response." 
     Winner fears that our instruments have become institutions in the
making -- that in our time "techne has at last become politeia."  The idea
that a society might try to guide its sociotechnical development according
to self-conscious, critically evaluated standards of form and limit is no
longer simply a good idea, it is an imperative.  "Because technological
innovation is inextricably linked to processes of social reconstruction,
any society that hopes to control its own structural evolution must
confront each significant set of technological possibilities with
scrupulous care." 


                                   Scott London * london@rain.org