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Discussing technology without politics is sticking your head in the sand. Technology has a political impact, and technological choices are politically influence

by rickmb 14y ago

Discussing technology without politics is sticking your head in the sand. Technology has a political impact, and technological choices are politically influenced. Half the topics on HN would be very different if you took away the political context. Unless you only want to discuss programming languages at an academic level, it's almost impossible to ignore the politics.

SeanDav 14y ago
Academic politics are just as ferocious as country politics and in many cases (e.g. global warming) almost inseparable.
photon137 14y ago
"...and technological choices are politically influenced" Nope. Technological choices are solely influenced by the problem one is trying to solve. The course of war, peace and espionage may be determined by politics but the choice of technology is totally influenced by the problems war and espionage may present that technology needs to be able to solve. You can't build a "liberal" radar or a "conservative" radar or a downright "communist" radar. You can just build a radar to detect aircraft.
- danso 14y ago
  > Nope. Technological choices are solely influenced by the problem one is trying to solve. Let me guess: you've never worked in government contracting before?
  - photon137 14y ago
    My statement still holds: the lowest quote is part of the problem. (And to answer your question: nope - and I hope not to).
- mcguire 14y ago
  True, but you can build a radar that displays flocks of geese as F-15's (to make up a bogus example) if that satisfies the needs of your client. Ignoring the non-technical aspects of technology is as short-sighted as ignoring technical aspects you don't happen to care for.
- eli 14y ago
  You're seriously suggesting cyber security research has nothing to do with politics? Technology is not an independent force of nature. It's the product of people, and people are inherently connected to politics.
  - photon137 14y ago
    I'm seriously suggesting the underlying technology has nothing to do with politics. One can discuss buffer overruns and CSRFs and what not without any political overtones whatsoever (or should be able to). There is no area of human life that hasn't been impacted by technology and very few of them actually involve politics in the traditional sense. Forgiving tech media that covers political stories in the guise of "tech" news because tech is "inseparable" from politics is naive, at best. It is separable and should be. But then again, I understand media is indeed inseparable from politics. "...people are inherently connected to politics." I disagree. This varies from society to society - it might be true for America, not true for other places. People in those places know what the sphere of influence of politics is and many areas are totally separated from politics. In the US, in contrast, almost anything can be (and routinely is) made a political issue.
    - eli 14y ago
      Huh? What is your definition of "politics"? What society are you thinking of? North Korea? Even there (maybe especially there) politics plays a huge role in technology.
    - sciurus 14y ago
      I'm reminded of this quote: "Your question is: why am I so interested in politics? But if I were to answer you very simply, I would say this: why shouldn't I be interested? That is to say, what blindness, what deafness, what density of ideology would have to weigh me down to prevent me from being interested in what is probably the most crucial subject to our existence, that is to say the society in which we live, the economic relations within which it functions, and the system of power which defines the regular forms and the regular permissions and prohibitions of our conduct. The essence of our life consists, after all, of the political functioning of the society in which we find ourselves. So I can't answer the question of why I should be interested; I could only answer it by asking why shouldn't I be interested?" - Michel Foucault
- jacalata 14y ago
  Right. So you're not aware of Richard Stallman? You've never met a rabid 'M$ $UX!' guy?
  - photon137 14y ago
    I can still write software, discuss ideas and think about architecture etc etc. while totally ignoring both of those guys.

by rickmb 14y ago

SeanDav 14y ago

Academic politics are just as ferocious as country politics and in many cases (e.g. global warming) almost inseparable.

photon137 14y ago

"...and technological choices are politically influenced" Nope. Technological choices are solely influenced by the problem one is trying to solve. The course of war, peace and espionage may be determined by politics but the choice of technology is totally influenced by the problems war and espionage may present that technology needs to be able to solve. You can't build a "liberal" radar or a "conservative" radar or a downright "communist" radar. You can just build a radar to detect aircraft.

danso 14y ago
> Nope. Technological choices are solely influenced by the problem one is trying to solve. Let me guess: you've never worked in government contracting before?
- photon137 14y ago
  My statement still holds: the lowest quote is part of the problem. (And to answer your question: nope - and I hope not to).
mcguire 14y ago
True, but you can build a radar that displays flocks of geese as F-15's (to make up a bogus example) if that satisfies the needs of your client. Ignoring the non-technical aspects of technology is as short-sighted as ignoring technical aspects you don't happen to care for.
eli 14y ago
You're seriously suggesting cyber security research has nothing to do with politics? Technology is not an independent force of nature. It's the product of people, and people are inherently connected to politics.
- photon137 14y ago
  I'm seriously suggesting the underlying technology has nothing to do with politics. One can discuss buffer overruns and CSRFs and what not without any political overtones whatsoever (or should be able to). There is no area of human life that hasn't been impacted by technology and very few of them actually involve politics in the traditional sense. Forgiving tech media that covers political stories in the guise of "tech" news because tech is "inseparable" from politics is naive, at best. It is separable and should be. But then again, I understand media is indeed inseparable from politics. "...people are inherently connected to politics." I disagree. This varies from society to society - it might be true for America, not true for other places. People in those places know what the sphere of influence of politics is and many areas are totally separated from politics. In the US, in contrast, almost anything can be (and routinely is) made a political issue.
  - eli 14y ago
    Huh? What is your definition of "politics"? What society are you thinking of? North Korea? Even there (maybe especially there) politics plays a huge role in technology.
  - sciurus 14y ago
    I'm reminded of this quote: "Your question is: why am I so interested in politics? But if I were to answer you very simply, I would say this: why shouldn't I be interested? That is to say, what blindness, what deafness, what density of ideology would have to weigh me down to prevent me from being interested in what is probably the most crucial subject to our existence, that is to say the society in which we live, the economic relations within which it functions, and the system of power which defines the regular forms and the regular permissions and prohibitions of our conduct. The essence of our life consists, after all, of the political functioning of the society in which we find ourselves. So I can't answer the question of why I should be interested; I could only answer it by asking why shouldn't I be interested?" - Michel Foucault
jacalata 14y ago
Right. So you're not aware of Richard Stallman? You've never met a rabid 'M$ $UX!' guy?
- photon137 14y ago
  I can still write software, discuss ideas and think about architecture etc etc. while totally ignoring both of those guys.