Ursula: We have a responsibility to oppose evil.
We have a responsibility to let other countries be
masters in their own house. Since these two moral
directives are often in conflict, we have to make
a case by case decision.
Eric: Technological destiny, a'la Jacques Ellul,
that Jesuit commie anarchist, who has been so
often prophetic. (See below.) Technology (nuclear
weapons, modern transportation, etc.) is forcing
us to make more choices that subordinate the
integrity of states. Pre-emption is not
colonialism anymore; technology is forcing us to
consider pre-emption as a prerequisite to national
survival. Technical changes also change the
case-by-case.
_______
The Technological Society
What many consider to be Ellul's most important
work, The Technological Society (1964) was
originally titled: La Technique: L'enjen du
siècle, "the stake of the century." In it, Ellul
set forth seven characteristics of modern technology.
The characteristics of technique which
serve to make efficiency a necessity are
rationality, artificiality, automatism of
technical choice, self-augmentation, monism,
universalism, and autonomy. The rationality of
technique enforces logical and mechanical
organization through division of labor, the
setting of production standard, etc. And it
creates an artificial system which "eliminates or
subordinates the natural world." (Fasching, p. 17)
http://www.regent.edu/acad/schcom/rojc/mdic/ellul.html
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