Role of technology

Of late, the work on philosophy of science and technology has further added to knowledge on economic and political systems. This has also established why there is a need to study and control technology. Among the major critical theorists, Feenberg (2002), who combines the critical theory of technology with empirical studies of science and technology, focusing on the relationships between technology, rationality, and democracy, argues that the degradation of labor – as well as of many environmental, educational, and political systems – is rooted in the social values that preside over technological development. To him "What human beings are and will become is decided in the shape of our tools no less than in the action of statesmen and political movements. The design of technology is thus an ontological decision fraught with political consequences. The exclusion of the vast majority from participation in this decision is profoundly undemocratic".