The Technology and Socity Post

In reading through the major theories of technological determinism and symptomatic technology, it was very eye opening to understand how technology has impacted and affected our world.  I believe there is a combination of both at work in our everyday society, if not even more so here in the Silicon Valley.
We are a valley where technology is providing the means to make significant advances, and with the money from the government and Wall Street spurring on these businesses, we can believe there will be more startups attempting to create the latest technological advances (think google maps explosion).  So, from that perspective, technological determinism theory fits our pursuit of the next breakthrough because the monitorial significance waiting as a reward has prompted their "self-generation" (pg. 29) for actively researching and developing what's possible.

In pursuing these new ventures for the uses of technology, it is expected that some creators of technology will focus on how specific elements used will further support societal norms.  Whether they are accepted by a community or on a personal level is up to us, but examining the increased usage of Facebook vs. MySpace quickly provides an example of what our society was looking for in terms of general acceptance for communicating online.  This falls into the category of symptomatic technology.

Overall, I can see how these work together very frequently and sometimes will be the cause of each other.  But where it becomes difficult, as pointed out in the reading, is when trying to assign cause for the societal norms or actions that are changing due to this rampant use of technology.  A big reason for this is, and will always be, the money.  Investment capitol does not pay to keep things the same; it pays to show what’s possible through change.  This is always a double-edged sword, because once Pandora is out of the box there is no getting her back in.  So, while I do not support many of the changes that occur in society because of my conservative nature, I am open to accepting that many of these advancements have put tools in our hands to more effectively live in our societies.
--CG