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utopian technology

From the Enlightenment up to well into the twentieth century the dominant conception of technology as a whole was very positive, sometimes utopian. Technology was seen as a panacea, ready and waiting to be discovered and developed by humanity. The role of technology as a necessary mediator of human progress was first systematically developed by Kapp (1877). Applying Hegel’s dialectical scheme to the relation between humans and technology, he found that humans gain self-understanding only after they have reproduced themselves in technological extensions. The skeleton became to be seen as a mechanism; the heart was defined as a pump; and nowadays the brain is compared to a computer.