{"id":7059,"date":"2006-10-25T19:57:27","date_gmt":"2006-10-25T19:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/25\/winner-the-whal-1\/"},"modified":"2006-10-25T19:57:27","modified_gmt":"2006-10-25T19:57:27","slug":"winner-the-whal-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/25\/winner-the-whal-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Winner, The Whale and The Reactor<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 4<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>\n

Winner,
\n Langdon. The Whale and The Reactor: A Search For Limits In An Age
\n of High Technology<\/i>. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1986. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Winner launches a strong indictment<\/b> of overzealous framings of
\ntechnology<\/b> as inherently good, progressive, and responsible for widespread
\nsocial improvements. His approach is deliberately hyperbolic and polemic in many
\nplaces; drawing on historical examples of technology’s unfulfilled promises and
\nworking to concretize the slick vocabulary preferred by the most vocal and
\nuncritical advocates of technological "revolutions,"<\/b> Winner is forthright
\nabout his position as a technology critic<\/b>. The book stitches
\ntogether pieces he published from 1980-1985; Winner’s most pointed emphases are
\nthe limits<\/i> of technological promises<\/b>, the impact of technological
\nencroachments on the natural environment,<\/b> and social justice<\/b>–the
\neffects of technology for those who don’t have access or resources enough to
\nparticipate in the sweeping changes. He is deeply skeptical<\/b> of the
\nprogress narratives<\/b> that pit technology as inevitable or altruistic.<\/p>\n

Rather than anchoring his strong critique in technological determinism,
\nWinner establishes a slight variation: technological somnambulism<\/b> or
\nsleep-walking, which results from simplistic perspectives of tools as
\nculturally neutral<\/b> and value-free<\/b>. He works at a relatively high
\nlevel–large-scale effects rather than the hands-on encounters with specific
\nartifacts.<\/p>\n

In answer to the question titling chapter 2, "Do Artifacts Have Politics?,"
\nWinner develops his most memorable example: the low-clearance bridges<\/b> in
\ncertain Long Island communities were designed to prevent the access of busses
\nand, thereby, to block the access of any who would make use of low-cost public
\ntransportation. Winner explains that all made things are infused<\/b>
\nwith political values<\/b>; technology design is often used for gate-keeping
\n(preserving social order) and union busting (worker replacement). The
\nblend of techne<\/i><\/b> (efficiency, as Winner frames it) and
\npoliteia<\/i><\/b> is largely responsible for this. Winner explains the
\nhistory of this fusion of politcal and instrumental efficiency as the faulty
\npromise of capitalist civil society. Notably, he polarizes authority<\/b> and
\ndemocracy<\/b> (31), suggesting that techne aligns with authority (rather than
\nparticipation). Furthermore, everything made is embedded with motivation,
\nand to a degree, such motivations are materially taxied<\/b> into the future,
\nalways leading unto unforseeable effects (a perlocutionary effect of things).<\/p>\n

Lingering bits:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Winner often works on words, the concretization of words: decentralization
    \n (c. 5), revolution (c. 6), nature (c. 7), risk (c. 8), and values (c. 9). <\/li>\n
  • In one place (78), he refers to nuclear power plants as artifacts<\/b>.
    \n Why not systems<\/b>?<\/li>\n
  • In his discussion of "decentralization<\/b>," Winner prefers to account
    \n for the phenomenon of emergence and distribution using "atomistic<\/b>"<\/li>\n
  • In his closing chapter (the California gray whale in the scene where the
    \n nuclear reactor is being built), Winner works with what resonates nicely with
    \n Polanyi’s tacit knowing<\/b> and personal knowledge<\/b> (166).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Mythinformation<\/b>: "the almost religious conviction that a widespread
    \nadoption of computers and communications systems along with easy access to
    \nelectronic information will automatically produce a better world for human
    \nliving" (105). <\/p>\n

    Key terms: technological somnambulism (sleepwalking) (5, 10), artificial
    \nrealities (3), philosophy of technology (4), progress (5, 171), technological
    \ndeterminism (9), forms of life (13), inherently political technologies (22),
    \nartifacts (38), efficiency (46, 53), regime of instrumentality (54, 55),
    \nappropriate technology (63), demonstration models (76), "the shoddy" (77),
    \nmousetrap (78), New Age (80), decentralization (85), "atomistic" (93),
    \nparticipatory democracy (94), revolution (98), mythinformation (105), ideology
    \n(113), ecology (123), naturalistic fallacy (129), shallow environmentalism
    \n(131), deep ecology (131), ecological conscience (132), risk assessment (138),
    \nconservative drift (148), moral limits (155).<\/p>\n

    "Writers<\/b> who venture beyond the most pedestrian, dreary conceptions of
    \ntools and uses to investigate ways in which technological forms are implicated
    \nin the basic patterns and problems of our culture are often greeted with the
    \ncharge that they are merely ‘antitechnology<\/b>‘ or ‘blaming technology’"
    \n(xi). <\/p>\n

    "The basic task for a philosophy of technology<\/b> is to examine
    \ncritically the nature and significance of artificial aids to human activity"
    \n(4).<\/p>\n

    "If the experience of modern society shows us anything, however, it is that
    \ntechnologies<\/b> are not merely aids to human activity, but also powerful
    \nforces acting to reshape that activity and its meaning<\/b>" (6).<\/p>\n

    "The construction of a technical system<\/b> that involves human beings as
    \noperating parts brings a reconstruction of social roles<\/b> and
    \nrelationships<\/b>" (11).<\/p>\n

    "At issue is the claim that the machines, structures, and systems of
    \nmodern material culture<\/b> can be accurately judged not only for their
    \ncontributions to efficiency and productivity and their positive and negative
    \nenvironmental side effects, but also for the ways in which they can embody
    \nspecific forms of power<\/b> and authority<\/b>" (19).<\/p>\n

    "Histories of architecture<\/b>, city planning<\/b>, and public works<\/b>
    \ncontain many examples of physical arrangements<\/b> with explicit or implicit
    \npolitical purposes<\/b>" (23).<\/p>\n

    "In many instances, to say that some technologies are inherently political<\/b>
    \nis to say that certain widely accepted reasons of practical
    \nnecessity–especially the need to maintain crucial technological systems as
    \nsmoothly working entities–have tended to eclipse other sorts of moral and
    \npolitical reasoning" (36).<\/p>\n

    "The prevailing consensus seems to be that people love a life of high
    \nconsumption<\/b>, tremble<\/b> at the thought that it might end, and are
    \ndispleased about having to clean up the messes that modern technologies
    \nsometimes bring" (51). ^i.e. anxiety in technological change.<\/p>\n

    "We should try to imagine and seek to build technical regimes<\/b>
    \ncompatible with freedom<\/b>, social justice<\/b>, and other key
    \npolitical ends<\/b>" (55).<\/p>\n

    "But this eloquence of criticism<\/b>–and perhaps this is a property of
    \ncriticism<\/b>–is matched by a poverty of practice<\/b>" (67). ^Applies to
    \nmost\/all criticism? Winner’s included?<\/p>\n

    "[Enthusiasts] employ a metaphor of revolution<\/b> for one purpose
    \nonly–to suggest a drastic upheaval<\/b>, one that people ought to welcome as
    \ngood news. It never occurs to them to investigate the idea or its meaning any
    \nfurther" (101).<\/p>\n

    "Current developments in the information age suggest an increase in power<\/b>
    \nby those who already had a great deal of power, an enhanced centralization of
    \ncontrol<\/b> by those already prepared for control, an augmentation of wealth<\/b>
    \nby the already wealthy" (107). <\/p>\n

    "The efficient<\/b> management of information<\/b> is revealed as the
    \ntelos<\/i> of modern society<\/b>, its greatest mission" (115). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 4<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>Winner, Langdon. The Whale and The Reactor: A Search For Limits In An Age of High Technology. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1986.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[175],"tags":[1353,1127,1407,279,1408,1409,1410,398,1121,1040,1411,1068,553,1257,189,1412,1413,1414,1219,909,1415,979,1416,1417,493,1418,1419,1296,187,1420,1421,1164,677],"class_list":["post-7059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-toolsinuse","tag-anxiety","tag-artifacts","tag-bridges","tag-computer","tag-criticism","tag-decentralization","tag-democracy","tag-ecology","tag-efficiency","tag-environment","tag-hazards","tag-ideology","tag-language","tag-marx","tag-metaphor","tag-movements","tag-mythinformation","tag-nostalgia","tag-plato","tag-politics","tag-pollution","tag-progress","tag-reactor","tag-reform","tag-revolution","tag-risk","tag-somnambulism","tag-techne","tag-technology","tag-telos","tag-things","tag-values","tag-whale"],"yoast_head":"\nWinner, The Whale and The Reactor - Earth Wide Moth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/25\/winner-the-whal-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Winner, The Whale and The Reactor - Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: 4 minsWinner, Langdon. 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Selfe, Jr. \"The Intellectual Work of Computers and Composition Studies.\" Olson 203-220. According to Selfe and Selfe, four characteristics characterize intellectual work in computers and composition: grounding in language studies and social theory; a belief in social justice (204); commitment to school settings as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing Technologies"","block_context":{"text":"Writing Technologies","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/writing_technol\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6991,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/07\/02\/banks-race-rhet\/","url_meta":{"origin":7059,"position":1},"title":"Banks, Race, Rhetoric, and Technology","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"July 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Banks, Adam J. Race, Rhetoric, and Technology: Searching for Higher Ground. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006. \"The questions remain, hauntingly: Is it possible to make this nation a just one for Black people? Is it worth the struggle? Can technologies really be used to serve liberatory ends, or is that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing Technologies"","block_context":{"text":"Writing Technologies","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/writing_technol\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6999,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/07\/08\/haraway-a-cybor\/","url_meta":{"origin":7059,"position":2},"title":"Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto”","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"July 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"*Haraway, Donna. \"A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.\" Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge, 1991. 149-181. Hawaray's famous essay winds, triple-helix-like, around three politically-inflected considerations: feminism, socialism and materialism. Or, perhaps more precisely, she spins together a critical, (anti)definitional\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing Technologies"","block_context":{"text":"Writing Technologies","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/writing_technol\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7395,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/19\/woolgar-and-coo\/","url_meta":{"origin":7059,"position":3},"title":"Woolgar and Cooper, “Do Artefacts Have Ambivalence?”","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I stumbled across Steve Woolgar and Geoff Cooper's article, \"Do Artefacts Have Ambivalence? Moses' Bridges, Winner's Bridges, and Other Urban Legends in ST&S\" (Social Studies of Science, 29.3, June 1999), a few weeks ago as I prepared for a session of ENGL516:Computers and Writing: Theory and Practice in which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reading Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Reading Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/reading_notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7254,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/27\/star-whale\/","url_meta":{"origin":7059,"position":4},"title":"Star Whale","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"April 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Harnessed beneath the floating future British metropolis, a star whale labored against zero gravity, acting as a gentle, unassuming engine to carry humans toward some uncertain destination. This is a near-spoiler, I suppose, since it gets at the gradually unraveling premise of \"The Beast Below,\" the second Dr. Who episode\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media"","block_context":{"text":"Media","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/media_massage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Smiler","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/img\/who.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7007,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/07\/26\/neel-reclaiming\/","url_meta":{"origin":7059,"position":5},"title":"Neel, “Reclaiming Our Theoretical Heritage”","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"July 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Neel, Jasper. \"Reclaiming Our Theoretical Heritage: A Big Fish Tale.\" Olson 3-11. Neel complicates the theory and practice polarities; he argues, quite convincingly, that theory is not expendable. 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