The Specter of Technological Determinism: Ethics, Power, and Responsibility in the Digital Age

Drawing on recent discussions about democratic interventions in technological development, this paper seeks to formulate a critique of technological determinism for the digital age. Technological determinism, in short, is the view that technology is an autonomous force which ‘acts’ independent of human designs. Such a deterministic view of technology can still be found in many interpretations of technological innovation today, for example in analyses of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and Distributed Ledger Technology. It is argued, however, that such a deterministic view undermines a much-needed focus on power, ethics and responsibility that is essential for the functioning of democracy in the digital age. The core argument against technological determinism is formulated based on the observation that humans are ultimately responsible for technology, and that the determinism of technology should be understood as a social determinism instead. Initially, the paper provides a broad overview of how the concept of technology itself is discussed, both in the Continental philosophy of technology and in the theory of the technical sciences. It is then illustrated how technologically-mediated power shapes our societies, often in detrimental and manipulative ways. Subsequently, the article presents a revised concept of the Habermasian ‘public sphere’ under conditions of ubiquitous digitalization. Lastly, potential pathways to democratic political interventions are discussed based on historical interpretations of technological change as utopia, dystopia, and heterotopia. An argument is made in favor of a socially-deterministic view of technology, where human responsibility and agency take center stage in our normative and analytical considerations.