Technology: From Substance to Abstraction and What This Means for Our Understanding of it

The question “What do we really mean by technology?” has initiated a rich discussion among researchers and students, as well as consultants and lecturers, on a website during and after the summer of 2011. Complementary or alternative perspectives on topics like knowledge were discussed. Some discussants pointed at the meaning of knowledge and what is required of this ‘matter’ to understand technology. This article discusses factors that contribute to the difficulties in understanding technology, explaining by providing examples the movement from the concrete to abstractions when people try to design, classify, and understand technology in their environments. What has been ongoing during the last century is a process of understanding and controlling a radically changed world where terms like globalization and modernity express some of its key aspects. This process illustrates Beniger’s (1986) claim that humans apply symbolic control systems which then control by their meaning. Each new technology increases the need for control and for improved control technology. The naming of artifacts/technologies is part of the control efforts. The use of metaphors is common and useful, but also adds to the abstraction.