Philosophy of technology

**Philosophy of technology** is a
sub-field of philosophy that studies the nature of technology and its
social effects. While this may seem like a modern idea, aspects of
philosophy of technology have existed since the dawn of philosophy.
The western term 'technology' comes from the Greek term techne
(τέχνη) (art, or craft knowledge). In greek philosophy, techne
was seen as something that arises as an imitation of nature (for
example, weaving developed out of watching spiders). Greek
philosophers such as Heraclitus and Democritus endorsed this view.

In his Physics, Aristotle agreed that
this imitation was often the case, but also argued that techne can go
beyond nature and complete "what nature cannot bring to a
finish." Aristotle also argued that nature (physis) and techne
are ontologically distinct because natural things have an inner
principle of generation and motion, as well as an inner teleological
final cause. While techne is shaped by an outside cause and an
outside telos (goal or end) which shapes it. Natural things strive
for some end and reproduce themselves, while techne does not. In
Plato's Timaeus, the world is depicted as being the work of a divine
craftsman (Demiurge) who created the world in accordance with eternal
forms as an artisan makes things using blueprints. Moreover, Plato
argues in the Laws, that what a craftsman does is imitate this divine
craftsman.

Medieval Scholastic philosophy
generally upheld the traditional view of technology as imitation of
nature. During the Renaissance, Francis Bacon became one of the first
modern authors to reflect on the impact of technology on society. In
his utopian work New Atlantis (1627), Bacon put forth an optimistic
worldview in which a fictional institution (Salomon's House) uses
natural philosophy and technology to extend man's power over nature -
for the betterment of society, through works which improve living
conditions.

Five early prominent 20th-century
philosophers to directly address the effects of modern technology on
humanity were John Dewey, Martin Heidegger, Herbert Marcuse, Günther
Anders and Hannah Arendt. They all saw technology as central to
modern life, although Heidegger, Anders, Arendt and Marcuse were more
ambivalent and critical than Dewey. The problem for Heidegger was the
hidden nature of technology's essence, Gestell or Enframing which
posed for humans what he called its greatest danger and thus its
greatest possibility. Gestell as enframing was seen as an essence of
technology that pervades the human consciousness, tending to result
in humanity seeing the world through the lens of technology. He saw
this as something that causes humans to see things as resources to be
used, and causes a harm to their more poetic or authentic modes of
experience that are more suitable to human flourishing.

One early understanding of technology
was the idea that technology is neither good or bad, but the uder is
what determines this. This is what is known as the neutrality thesis
But in later years that thesis has came under criticism such as from
heidegger who posited that certain states of the technological world
inherently engender certain responses. In a more positive sense, the
technological state of society is seen as something that shapes the
political structures. Modern government structures being tied to
shifts in technology that changed how people lived, and thus the
degree of education and understanding they have.

Political approaches to technology
mostly go back to Marx, who assumed that the material structure of
production in society, in which technology is obviously a major
factor, determined the economic and social structure of that society.
Similarly, Langdon Winner has argued that technologies can embody
specific forms of power and authority (Winner 1980). According to
him, some technologies are inherently normative in the sense that
they require or are strongly compatible with certain social and
political relations. Railroads, for example, seem to require a
certain authoritative management structure. In other cases,
technologies may be political due to the particular way they have
been designed.

## In megaten

Technology is a large aspect of megaten
plots, although in many of the games it is not highlighted. One of
the most notable things is the fact that the creation of the demon
summoning program is something that in and of itself causes massive
societal upheaval. It highlights that certain technologies have a
large inherent aspect of danger, and their widespread availability
and use may not always be a good thing. At the same time though, you
use the same program to solve problems caused by the emergence of it,
and so it shows this duality.
Another thing about technology that the
games highlight is a sense of alienation.

Humans are depicted as
having become alienated from their place in the world, and from the
earth itself due to the advent of modern technology. This being a
common theme that the demons mention. This is also tied to the idea
of humans becoming less spiritual. The kind of mechanistic view of
the world being seen as something negatively influenced by
technology. In real life this is seen as a potential psychological
affect that ties to people's views. This technologically influenced
lens causes the view of nature to shift from a reverent or spiritual
one to a sense of a pool of resources. As mentioned by heidegger in
his concept of gestell. The games highlight this as a problem, but
also take an optimistic tone about the possibility of overcoming it.

This sense of alienation from nature
that stems from technology is seen as something many ecologists say
is one of the things that leads to harm to the environment. The view
humans have of nature as a pool of resources rather than as a thing
to respect is what leads to not viewing themselves as in equilibrium
with the world. This is also something the games highlight in strange
journey, where this is tied to the human issues that lead to the
world being in an ecological crisis. Showing it as something that can
lead people to an existential crisis that threatens humanity as a
whole. This also overlaps with ecological issues. Ecology questions
whether environmental solutions to problems caused by technology
require abandoning that technology, or shifting the technological
development to one that gains power over the environment.

In an interview for soul hackers they
talk about how one of the themes of the game is how hacking is
something that can be common in an information society. People's
reliance on technology also makes them vulnerable to its flaws. This
is also seen in devil survivor 2. Where one of the missions involves
needing to finish it before your phones that you use for summoning
can be hacked. This reliance on them is dependent on your ability to
use them, and keep others from having acess. In devil survivor 1 a
similar issue is shown, in that the shomonkai planned to design the
comps to make their members unable to be attacked by them. Showing
that one with control over technology has a different type of control
than merely that of physical force.

Virtual reality and its issues also is
an aspect of the games, and ties to the former themes. The games
highlight how virtual worlds are ones entirely dominated by
technology, and so are inherently systems under someone's control.
Which is why in both II and nine the virtual worlds are depicted as
created for law leaning purposes. Although in soul hackers they
aren't, but are still a tool used for control. Virtual reality is
also shown as a way to capture a world that does not exist in
reality. With the games often using virtual worlds to either depict a
future world one seeks to uphold, or a past one that are lost.

Virtual reality is also shown in digital devil saga, where it is once
again used to control people, using them like battle AIs. Digital
devil saga makes the point however of the similarity between a
virtual and real world, because the real world is not significantly
fundamentally different in nature than the virtual. Due to both being
composed of data. The virtual world being under the control of a god
like figure being depicted as analogous to religious dynamics. In the
idea space in nine, it even equates bugs to demons, with the bugs in
the system turning out to be real demons.

One interesting depiction of technology
in the games however is how demons have things analogous to
technology, but which are often depicted as magic. In SMTII the
demons have magic based teleporters, with one demon bragging that no
humans have something like that before realizing they do. So it is
showing an essence of technology unlocking abilities that can be seen
as magical in nature. This is doubly the case with the demon
summoning program, since it is a type of technology that is capable
of using magic. In IV, the comps were mistaken by those from mikado
as being magical, but that ties to how in the end, their use is
magical in nature.

Another comparison is how they say that
in nocturne, you are meant to get the idea that the amala network is
an analogous concept to real life networks. Demons have their own
analogue of the internet that is a flow of information that can be
utilized to learn things, and can be accessed from network nodes. One
difference with demons though is that this aspect is not presented as
distinct from their ordinary lives but seamlessly blends with it in a
way that makes it seem invisible. Demi fiend is meant to look like a combination of a shaman, and a type of cyber being, with energy lines on his body, and with his neck horn resembling an antenna.

This ties to how the chaos side in
general has concerns that technology or creations can lead to a less
natural existence that alienates you from your normal mode of being.
Chaos is not necessarily totally against technology per say, but sees
it as something that needs to be developed to be in tune with nature.
In smti they accuse the demon summoning program to be an artificial
means of control that violates the contract between demons and
humans. And long term in chaos worlds it seems like they tend to have
it disappear in place of humans taking in and merging with demons in
general to gain access to them. Chaos being associated with natural
existence contrasts against law being associated more with an
artificial order. Chaos sometime wanting to destroy modern society to
start over from the beginning, seeing modern society as having gone
down a wrong technological path.

Transhumanism itself of course also
ties to philosophy of technology. Transhumanism is generally based on
technological ways to upgrade humanity, and whether humanity should
entrust itself to these shifts. Interestingly, in megaten the
transhumanist elements often veer back and forth between being openly
depicted as coming through technology versus being magic. But as
aforementioned, demons use magic as an analogous concept to
technology regardless.

Soul hackers 2 also addresses several topics, such as how technology can have unforeseen aspects such as the creation of aion. And has the cyberpunk theme about how it may not necessarily improve the quality of life for society to keep improving. The transhumanist idea of moral bioenhancement also comes up in the end, where figue as the final boss seeks to use technology to forcibly transform humanity to a more peaceful format. This doubles as a concern over the scope of tech, such that it shows how fast certain changes can be made with tech that is far reaching. Strikers also alludes to such an idea, as well as the deification of technology.

Law in general is associated with techno-futurism and transhumanism in a more explicit way, although all sides have some aspects. Angels are often depicted as mechanical, especially metatron and sandalphon, who having used to be human are depicted as having been given a mechanical body. Satan also has robotic snake legs to show this aspect. And ancient of days and the angels in iv are depicted as robotic too.