Modern society witnesses how rapidly diverse technologies develop, advance and infiltrate the environment. Nonetheless, few wonder how artifacts are associated with politics and by what means they may fulfill some forms of authority and power. This issue is discussed in the Winner’s paper titled “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” published in 1980. The topic and Winner’s inferences are relevant nowadays, although more than forty years have passed. In his article, Garvey (2021) applies Winner’s suggestions and examines their relation to current artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Both works claim that technologies are not only tools and structures of the material world but also means of social influence with particular political qualities.
Exploring the connection between technologies, society and politics reveal a non-obvious bond between those fields. Many might assume that technologies are neutral, their political properties are absent, and only “people have politics” (Winner, 1980, p. 122). However, Winner (1980) suggests that artifacts can be used to distribute “the power, authority and privilege” in the community (p. 125). He defines two main ways in which technologies may have politics: “Technical Arrangements as Forms of Order” and “Inherently Political Technologies” (Winner, 1980, p. 123, p. 128). First, technologies have political qualities to the creator’s decision: apart from their purpose, such artifacts are designed to make a specific social impact. The second artifacts have politics by necessity; those technologies “appear to require or to be strongly compatible with particular kinds of political relationships” (Winner, 1980, p. 123). In their works, both authors provide examples of these types of technologies.
While describing the first way, Winner highlights several situations as remarkable instances of endowing technologies with certain political qualities. The most memorable example illuminates the reason for the “extraordinarily low” overpasses design on Long Island, New York (Winner, 1980, p. 123).
It turns out that the master-builder designed those overpassed accordingly to his racial prejudice and bias. He expected that buses would not be present on his parkways and that poor classes or racial minorities would not attend his parks. Thus, the following social effect was that only middle- and upper-class whites who owned cars would use the parkways. Garvey (2021) claims that “AI systems have the potential to fall into a similar category”. For instance, he supposes that health data collected by wearable devices can be misused: and sold to third parties, causing privacy issues and affecting users’ psychological well-being (Garvey, 2021). Both examples reveal how seemingly neutral technologies can obtain political properties and influence society.
The second way involves technologies requiring specific sociopolitical relationships. Winner (1980) refers to nuclear power plants and atom bombs linked to strict policies, regulations and governmental management. Garvey (2021) describes such AI technology as facial recognition systems, which might be inherently autocratic. Face recognition is deployed “to maintain order in the authoritarian state” in China (Garvey, 2021). Those examples describe technologies that apparently have political qualities and purposes, thus, cannot be called neutral.
These articles discuss relevant, up-to-date topics considering the pace of technological progress. It seems that people do not realize that the connection between technology and politics is more robust than it seems. Suchlike non-consciousness makes people incautious, while artifacts with political qualities gradually influence societies. Winner (1980) reveals that people should not ignore the context of artifacts and pay attention to secondary qualities. Garvey (2021) offers a fresh look at the topic and emphasizes the necessity of being vigilant since new technologies and innovations inevitably develop. Technologies are shown to have political power and the ability to affect social relations; therefore, obtaining social awareness in this field is crucial.
References
Garvey, M. (2021). Does AI have politics?. Towards Data Science. Web.
Winner, L. (1980). Do artifacts have politics?. Daedalus, 109(1), 121-136. Web.