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Philosophy Of Technology

An annotated collection of 3 books on philosophy of technology, spanning 1973 to 1992. Featuring works by Ivan Illich, Ursula M. Franklin, Neil Postman — each with editorial commentary oriented to digital product practice.

Tools for Conviviality

Ivan Illich, 1973 · Harper & Row

Illich's argument is that tools — broadly defined, including institutions, technologies and systems — should extend human autonomy rather than reduce it, and that most industrial tools have crossed the threshold where th…

The Real World of Technology

Ursula M. Franklin, 1990 · House of Anansi Press (CBC Massey Lectures)

Franklin, a metallurgist and physicist, distinguishes between holistic technologies (where the worker controls the entire process) and prescriptive technologies (where the process is divided into steps and the worker con…

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology

Neil Postman, 1992 · Alfred A. Knopf

Postman's later, sharper book: the argument that contemporary culture has moved from using technology as a tool (tool-using cultures) through technocracy (where tools reshape social institutions) to technopoly — a cultur…