A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

Modernity, Premodernity, Alternative Modernity

According to prestigious academics, we are supposed to be postmodern or amodern. Critical theory of technology argues instead that we must choose between alternative forms of modernity. The concept of modernity retains its validity in this context and cannot be reduced to the various straw men so energetically refuted by the critics. There is a good reason not to dismiss this concept. It enables us to distinguish between societies based on modern technology and all others. Of course, where that distinction is overdrawn in self-congratulatory terms it deserves critique. But the distinction is inevitable in some form nevertheless.

Premodern and modern societies attach different relative weights to systematization and mediation. In premodern societies, technical networks are relatively short and their nodes loosely coupled. However, very elaborate mediations control every aspect of technical life; here technique merges with what we moderns identify as art and religion. Thus tribal weapons and huts may share a common symbolism, but they are not systematically related by technical specifications of great precision as are modern technologies. As a result, premodern societies have a limited spatial reach but they conquer time in the sense that they can be reproduced successfully over thousands of years.

Modern societies, on the contrary, emphasize systematization and build long networks through tightly coupling links between very different ...