Trusting Our Selves to Technology
Trust is a central dimension in the relation between human beings and technologies. In many discourses about technology, the relation between human beings and technologies is conceptualized as an external relation: a relation between pre-given entities that can have an impact on each other but that...
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Published in | Knowledge, Technology & Policy Vol. 23; no. 3-4; pp. 409 - 427 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Dordrecht
Springer Netherlands
01.12.2010
Springer Nature B.V |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Trust is a central dimension in the relation between human beings and technologies. In many discourses about technology, the relation between human beings and technologies is conceptualized as an external relation: a relation between pre-given entities that can have an impact on each other but that do not mutually constitute each other. From this perspective, relations of trust can vary between
reliance
, as is present for instance in technological extensionism, and
suspicion
, as in various precautionary approaches in ethics that focus on technological risks. Against these two interpretations of trust, this article develops a third one. Based on a more internal account of the relations between human beings and technologies, it becomes possible to see that every technological development puts at stake what it means to be a human being. Using technologies, then, implies trusting ourselves
to
technologies. We argue that this does not imply an uncritical subjection to technology. Rather, recognizing that technologies help to constitute human subjectivity implies that human beings can get actively involved in processes of technological mediation. Trust then has the character of
confidence
: deliberately trusting oneself
to
technology. |
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ISSN: | 0897-1986 1946-4789 2210-5433 1874-6314 2168-7005 2210-5441 |
DOI: | 10.1007/s12130-010-9123-7 |