3 ms·

That's just historical materialism, FYI.

• TeMPOraL 6y ago
  Looking at Wikipedia, this, technological determinism and economical determinism are related concepts (with the same names appearing in articles about them). I'll need to look into getting my taxonomy straight, but my current view is mostly contained in the explanation I gave in the comment above: inventions shape the landscape of the economy, and ideas/culture are like water flowing in that landscape (and perhaps slowly eroding it).
  • xtian 6y ago
    Right, historical materialism doesn't conflict with any of that, but it extends its analysis to the power structures that arise in society as a result of the material economic conditions.
• tuatoru 6y ago
  An example of beliefs affecting technology is the coal industry's wildly successful astroturfing campaign against nuclear power in the 1960s and 1970s. Nuclear power was an existential threat to coal mining but was derailed almost completely by manipulating people's beliefs.