People invent things. This is a truth that makes humans who we are -- it has allowed us to conquer our environments and each other for centuries, millennia even. But why? Why do we invent things? In the case of conquering our environment, we invent things to make our lives easier, for the sake of convenience -- we invent things as appliances. In the case of conquering each other, we invent things to give us a military advantage, with the intent to harm and/or dominate others -- we invent things as a weapon. Lastly, sometimes we invent things for the sake of inventing things, because we had an idea and we wanted to execute it -- we invent things as art. However, though these categories may seem distinct, most inventions fall into all three at one time or another, even simultaneously, and technology is no different. Finally, it is important to make these distinctions in function in order to recognize categorical differences in how we think we’re using technology and how the technology may actually be used to help us identify injustices and oversights that lead to discrimination. Though developed for one purpose, inventions (technology included) often are transformed to fit into the other categories as well. Take auditory surveillance -- when first developed, this technology was used as a weapon during the 20th century to spy behind enemy lines. Recently, however, it has been used in devices like Alexa. Alexa uses surveillance technology to listen constantly for commands -- in this way surveillance technology functions as an appliance for the sake of convenience and efficiency (Cornish 2019).
Though it may seem pointless to make these distinctions in function at all when so many inventions naturally fall into more than one category, I argue that recognizing these distinctions is essential for identifying potentials for injustice and discrimination when using new inventions. Consider again Alexa. We think of Alexa as an appliance, but the surveillance technology it relies on has long been considered a weapon. And yet, we accept it into our lives because it functions as an appliance -- though it can be weaponized by hackers, Amazon itself (the company that produces Alexa), the government, etc. Another example is police body cameras. We think of police body cams as an appliance -- they’re supposed to supply objective video recordings to hold police more accountable. However, the way they’re used is much more like a weapon. Many officers are able to choose what to record (negating their objectivity), and the integration of facial recognition software into body cams gives police immense power over the people they record (Cahn 2019). In this way, a police officer is able to gather incredible amounts of data from just doing their normal patrols -- all without the consent of the people they record. This is why it is important to recognize these categorical differences -- so that we are able to recognize the true uses of the things around us and therefore recognize how they might be used to promote discrimination and injustices.
Works Cited
Cahn, Albert Fox. “Opinion | How Bodycams Distort Real Life.” The New York Times, 8 Aug. 2019. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/opinion/bodycams-privacy.html.
Cornish, Gabrielle. “How Music Has Made Auditory Surveillance Possible.” Slate Magazine, 21 Aug. 2019, https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/auditory-surveillance-music-history.html.
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