Technological Momentum and Education

Hughes presents a case for talking about scientific pulsation as a point between two opposite conceits genial pull inivism and proficient determinism. This raises questions as to what exactly the relationship is between scientific pulsing and voiced determinism. both(prenominal) roots deal with the effect parliamentary procedure has on engineering science and the effect that engineering science has on society. I depart argue that while both ideas search to be the same, there are important distinctions to make between the two. maven is that Hughess idea of proficient momentum is sequence dep overthrowent.So it is sensitive to society, culture, and the modifys that communicate to a technological organisation as it matures. On the other hand, comfortable determinism doesnt distinguish between when a administration will function to be affected most by society, and when that technological transcription will bring on the most captivate on society. In his ac t, Thomas Hughes presents a case for technological momentum. The idea of technological momentum lies between the extremes of affectionate constructivism and technological determinism. Social constructivism is when friendly or ethnical forces determine technological change. scientific determinism, on the other hand, is the idea that technical forces determine social and cultural changes (Smith, 102). Within his essay Hughes points out how technological systems evolve during their lifetime to come about under either of these extremes. According to Hughes, the maturity of the system often clock dictates its influence on society and the impression the society itself can have on the technological system. One might point out that the idea of technological momentum is similar to the idea of soft determinism.The soft reckon of determinism is the belief that technological changes drives social change, but social pressures also influence it. Both of the ideas use the view that technology effects society, and that society effects technology. The ideas of technological momentum and soft determinism are very similar in the ways that they view the relationship between society and technology, as both state that social development shapes and is shape by technology (Smith, 102). heretofore there are important distinctions between the two that prove that they are indeed different.One important distinction to make between technological momentum and soft determinism is that Hughess technological momentum is time dependent and takes into look the multitude of changes that a technological system undergoes during its lifetime. Hughes emphasizes that a young or less complex system will be influenced more by society than influence society, which maintains the social constructivists view that it is primarily society that influences technology and technological change within the system.Ultimately, technological momentum and soft determinism are not two concepts referring to th e same idea because of the emphasis Hughes puts on time and the maturity of the technological system, and how that plays a role in whether its technologically settled or socially constructed. In his essay Technological Momentum, Hughes uses examples of various technological systems to help support his claims. His example for a system that both molded and was shaped by society is EBASCO. The Electric draw and Share Company (EBASCO) was an American electric utility holding confederation of the 1920s.EBASCO provided financial, management, and engineering construction services for the utility companies. There are five-fold instances of social construction within EBASCOs history. Hughes begins illustrating the social constructivism side of the spectrum by showing the technological forces that helped shape the EBASCO system. The spread of alternating (polyphase) current after 1900, for instance, greatly affected, even determined, the history of the early utilities that had used direct current, for these had to change their generators and cogitate equipment to alternating current or fail in the human face of competition. Smith, 106-107) This example demonstrates how EBASCO was technologically influenced by society. If the modern alternating current technology hadnt been gaining popularity at the time, EBASCO wouldnt have been forced to change their equipment to clutch up with the competition. Not only did external technological forces shape EBASCOs technical core, but economic ones did as well. Hughes points out the political forces that shaped the EBASCO system during its evolution. Small urban utilities became regional ones and then faced new political or regulatory forces as state governances took over legal power from the cities.Regulations also caused technical changes (Smith, 107). This political influence shaped the EBASCO system as well. As the state governments took over they implemented guidelines that pushed for changes within the EBASCO system i f they wished to persist in business. In addition to political and technical influences, Hughes uses an example of geographic forces playing a role in EBASCOs development. He states As the regional utilities of the EBASCO system expanded, the confronted geographical realities as they sought cooling water, hydroelectric sites, and mine-mouth locations (Smith, 107). Hughes would say that these geographical issues played a role in EBASCOs development as they had to discover a way to work about some forms of geography and while learning the most efficient nub to utilize the other. Hughes would say that from a social constructivists standpoint, these technological, economic, political, and geographic forces all, with varying levels of intensity, influenced the EBASCO system during its development. While all of these social components did influence EBASO over time, Hughes claims that the interaction of technological systems and society is not symmetrical over time (Smith, 108). Here, H ughes emphasizes his claim that as a system becomes larger and more complex, it gathers momentum and becomes less shaped by and more the shaper of its milieu. By the 1920s the EBASCO system was straight a large technological system with capital investment, customers, and influence on local, state, and federal governments. The company also largely interacted with many industries and communities. Hughes claims that these various components added to the momentum of the EBASCO system. Hughes also uses an example of another technological system in his essay to show the role of technological determinism.As merchant ships began to be replaced by submarines during ball War I, the United States attempted to increase its supply of nitrogen compounds. They selected a process that required large amounts of electricity so the government had to construct a hydroelectric dam and power station. However, before the nitrogen-fixing facilities organism built near the dam were completed, the war en ded. Now, the supply of synthetic nitrogen compounds exceeded the demand. The U. S. government was left not only with process facilities but also a very large dam and power plant (Smith, pg 110).In 1933, however, a hydroelectric, flood-control, soil- reclamation, and regional development project sponsored by Senator George Norris and the Roosevelt administration and presided over by the Tennessee vale Authority became created. The technological momentum of the dam had carried over from WWI to the New cut across (Smith, pg 111). Hughes views this process of creating a technological system and observing it go beyond its original purpose and going on to shape the society in which it resides as a prime example of technological determinism.Hughes sums up the technological determinism present in the hydroelectric dam example by stating that this permanent artifact acted over time like a magnetic plain stitch attracting plans and projects suited to its characteristics. Systems of artifa cts are not neutral forces they tend to shape the environment in particular ways (Smith, pg 111). In his essay, Hughes has some claims about when social constructivism would be the dominant influence and when technological determinism would be the stronger influence.Hughess idea of technological momentum can be described as a spectrum that determines the way a technological system is manipulated. On one end you have social constructivism. On this end Hughes claims that younger developing systems tend to be on this end of the spectrum because they are more open to sociocultural influence. On the other end of the spectrum lies technological determinism. Hughes claims that technological systems that are technologically deterministic tend to be the more mature systems because they are cured and prove to be more independent of outside influences and therefore more deterministic in nature.By defining technological momentum as being time dependent Hughes maintains that the concept of te chnological momentum avoids the extremism of both technological determinism and social construction by presenting a more complex, flexible, time-dependent, and persuasive accounting of technological change (Smith, 104). One objection to my claim might be the fact that just because soft determinism doesnt explicitly address time doesnt mean that it doesnt consider time because it would be onerous for a technological system to be socially constructed and technologically deterministic at the same time.My response would be that while it may be assumed that only one action can be do at a given time, it is not specifically stated in the description. The idea of technological momentum looks at time within the place setting of the maturity of the technological system. Soft determinism looks solely at whether a system can be both socially constructed and technologically deterministic, but not how this may change overtime due to the maturity of the system and the momentum it has gained.I n conclusion, Hughes explains his idea of technological momentum by placing it on a spectrum with social constructivism on one end and technological determinism on the other. Technol ogical momentum is related to soft determinism because of the effect society has on society and the effect that technology has on that society. However, it is important to make an important distinction regarding time. Hughess technological determinism is time dependent so it is sensitive to society, culture, and the changes that occur to a technological system as it matures.