Deep reflecting on the relationship between people and technology

Technology has a pivotal position in the development of human society. Engels pointed out that the use of tools is one of the decisive factor differentiation from the animal world, and the development of technology began in the use of tools. Technology has gradually become an important tool for people to recognize the world and transform the world, and it also brings the shaping of people. In this process, the relationship between man and technology has also been developed by people's life world based on technical rules and use technology based on technical rules.

Technical rules are bridges that people lead to technology

The development of technology is a process from discovering natural laws to continuous creation of technical rules. The technical rules are a set of actions related to technology to regulate people's technical behavior, including the creation and use of technology. Natural laws contain the possibility of transformation to technical rules, but in real life, this transformation is not casual and unconditional. The transformation of natural rules to technical rules reveals two basic characteristics of technical rules. The first is the subjectivity. Natural laws reveal how people should act, so the technical rules are the technical behavior of the technical behavior of the person as the subject. The second is the purpose, the technical rules are regulated on the action, and the action must be associated with the purpose. In this sense, technical rules are the conditions for how to achieve certain technical goals. Technical rules are the unity of regularity and purpose.

In addition, the transformation of technical rules to technology is also conditional. Even with technical rules, we may not be able to invent the corresponding technology. In fact, technical rules are not only standardized for technical behavior, but also regulate material factors in technical behavior. Technical rules should include materialistic rules and operating rules. Among them, material rules involve the selection and control of material objects, which are inseparable from the guidance of natural laws. Therefore, the transformation of natural rules to technical rules does not happen overnight, but through the development of technology. The development of technology is the transformation and combination of natural rules and technical rules. The laws of nature reveal people's understanding of the world, people must understand the original appearance of the world, and reflect the "scale of things"; technical rules guide people's transformation of the world. The scale. The development of technology is the unity of "the scale of things" and "human scale".

From technical rules to technical training

When early technology is not perfect, a technology can often achieve a variety of functions. Even if you do n’t know how to operate technical rules and do n’t know how to operate technology, people can use technology. The standards of technology are reflected in the constraints of technical functions, and also reflected as a rules. They all come from technical rules. Technical rules are formulated by people, and their norms are also people. Therefore, a norm chain is formed under technical rules: man -technology -man. That is, people standardize technology, technology in turn and standardize people.

In "people -technology", people are the main body, and human standards for technology are manifested as two aspects. The first is human invention technology. This is the creation of technology. At the same time, people have also put their purpose in the invention and creation of technology, giving technical intent to pointing. The second is human use technology. The use of people's use of technology is actually the "placing" of technology based on their own purpose. At this time, the purpose of human purpose and the purpose of technology can be the same or different. Whether it is a human invention technology or the use of technology, in the final analysis, the practical operation of the person as the subject of the object is based on the purpose of people's purpose. People occupy a dominant position, and the development of technology should be based on the premise of constantly meeting people's needs. In "technology -people", the norms of technical people are reflected in people to meet technical rules to achieve their own technical purposes. For example, when operating a machine, we must follow the operating guide on the instructions or technical manuals to operate the machine to achieve its own purpose. The more complicated the modern technology, the more complicated the corresponding technical rules, and the more high the control of the technology. This control can be understood as "rules" in Foucoo's sense.

In Foucault's view, rules are a "standardized training", which are realized through technology. The technology in Foucault mainly refers to regulatory training technology, which is "technology intervention, training, and monitoring of flesh." Therefore, Foucault's rules are actually a kind of power training, and technology is a carrier or tool for power rules. Technical training is to interfere, train or control the object through standardized means. The so -called standardized means are actually a series of technical rules. Technical rules are the prerequisite for technical training, and technical rules are the result of further development of technical rules. Regardless of the invention and creation of technology or the use of technology, it is necessary to follow certain technical rules. The development of technology is accompanied by the transformation of technical rules to technical rules. We cannot just look at the rules from the perspective of power relationships, but we must also review from the perspective of technical and technical rules.

The difference between the rules and the rules is that the rules are interested in pointing to the object, that is, the rules are always the rules of a certain object (mainly human); the connection between the two is Rules, rules contain the possibility of rules. In the training of technical regulations, the technical rules are applied to the object in a "compulsory force" way, and the object has to act in accordance with the rules. This is why Foucault combines technology with power. The training is actually a product of combining power and knowledge. In the final analysis, technical and regulatory training is also a kind of power training and knowledge rules.

Technical rules: The standard of technology and shaping people of human beings in the book "Technical Monopoly: Civilization to the Technology Surveying" divides civilization into three categories, that is, the use of civilization, technical rule, and technical monopoly civilization of tools Essence In the first type of civilization, technology is mainly used as an intermediary tool. People understand the world and transform the world through technical rules, thereby creating world civilization. In the latter two types of civilizations, technology has moved from tool status to a dominant position and even monopoly position, becoming a control force. In fact, there are technical training in these three types of civilizations. However, in the first type of civilization, the power of technical rules is hidden; in the latter two types of civilizations, technology as a kind of alien is directly highlighted through technical training.

Modern society is a technical society. People live in technology. The so -called "life world" has actually become a technical world. The technical world is full of technology, the world itself, and even the shaping and standardization of human civilization. Modern society is a society of technical rules, and modern people are also the product of technical training. Once people accept technology to use technology in accordance with certain technical rules, technical training will inevitably produce. Even at some times, technical training is invisible. Whether it is the various systems, systems, and mechanisms of modern society, or the various practices of life in order to meet the needs of life, even the experiments and practice of understanding the world, in a sense, there is a microcosm of technical training.

So, is technical training good or bad? On the one hand, technical training enables people to use various technologies to achieve their own goals and reflect the purpose of the subject. On the other hand, technical training makes the subjectivity of people no longer prominent. Technology is no longer the object of "placing", but people become the object of "placing" of technology, and the relationship between technology and human beings has reversed. But at the same time, the training requires people to act in accordance with technical rules, which is a manifestation of a regularity. Like technical rules, technical training is also the unity of combination and regularity, but because technical and training often shows a form of compulsory force, which makes it lose this unity, but only manifested as it is manifested as it is just manifested as a manifestation, but only manifested as it is manifested as it. Power control.

Although technical regulations are the standards and shaping of people in technology, under this condition, the subjectivity of people has not been completely lost. The technical training comes from technical rules, which is essentially neutral and there is no good or bad. People create and apply technical rules to understand and transform the world. At this time, "human scale" is based on the fundamental training; in the technical rules, people must meet the technical standards, that is, to regulate people's behavior with "the scale of things" to regulate people’s behavior Essence The transformation of technical rules to technical regulations seems to be the transformation of "human scale" to "objects", but it is actually the unity of two standards. The technical rules themselves are the embodiment of "the scale of things", but the "scale of things" when people create and use technical rules are hidden; and those in technical regulations should achieve some purpose through technical rules to achieve some purpose through technical rules. "Human scale" is also hidden in it. Therefore, understanding technical regulations should be understood on the basis of the two scale.

Because technical rules are compulsory and easy to combine with power to form some kind of power training, we must minimize technical training as much as possible, or to transform technical training to technical rules as much as possible. It is necessary to continuously improve the way of dealing with people and technology, what we do from technical requirements, and we must follow a certain technical rules to change from technical requirements.

Technical rules and technical rules are the necessary conditions and inevitable products for human technical survival. In the process of dealing with people and technology, the two are just about how the technical rules emphasize how people use technology, and technical training emphasizes how technology is training and shaping people. The two highlight the different sides of the relationship between man and technology, and also highlight the close connection between humans and technology, and play an important role in the formation of human civilization. We cannot confront the two. On the contrary, we must further explore how the two are transformed in the direction that is conducive to social development, with a view to realizing the common development of people, technology, and society.

(Author Unit: Marxism College of South China University of Technology)

Source: China Social Science Network-Journal of Social Sciences of China

Author: Hu Mian

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