Do
Artifacts Have Politics by Langdon Winner is an article on the relationship
between engineering, science, and society in America. It uses historical
examples to show how individuals have used science to influence society and how
scientific developments have, deliberately or otherwise, shaped society.
To show how science has been used
to influence society, the author references the construction projects of Robert
Moses. Robert had overpasses on roads in Long Island New York constructed low
enough that the public buses, widely used by poorer racial minorities, would be
unable to use them.
In
discussing the part of engineers and construction workers, I find it hard to blame
them for not noticing a concealed reason for their instructions and even if
individuals had noticed why that height was being used, it’s unlikely they
could have done much more than inconveniencing Robert with finding a
replacement. While I could accept this as an example of why we should promote
awareness of workers on public projects in relation to the public, I find it
unfair to blame engineers in particular for not noticing buses they didn’t use
wouldn’t fit and to assign them some sort of guilt or punishment for their
involvement would implicate numerous other employment fields for managements
decisions they didn’t make.
In his
writing on how science has influenced society, he notes the current business
structure and the status of workers as an example of science building authority
and society. The article points out how modern society is currently dependent
on factories, work, and businesses due to how large scale our population has
become and how this takes precedence of typical social morals. While I would
agree that we are currently reliant on businesses and factory work to maintain
our daily lives, I feel that it is important to consider how humanity was similarly
dependent on morally dubious authority figures long before present
technologies. Compared to spending your entire life in debt to whoever owned
the land you farmed I don’t view modern industry as a net loss for society. It’s
not a pinnacle of social reform and equality but the improved life span and (to
my knowledge) standards of living are definite pluses in my book.
Overall
I found some of the historical examples from the article interesting. Unfortunately
it failed to point out solutions to prevent the issues it raised and wasn’t
establishing why it is was unintended consequences of science where responsible
for the continuation of inequality in society.
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