One of humankind’s gifts, one of the things that separates our species from animals, is that we have the ability to create complex tools. Those tools, in just about every sense, no matter how basic so long as they are means constructed towards an end, are known to us as “technology.” A basic definition.
But what precisely is our relationship with technology? Heidegger characterizes technology as a sort of “saving-power,” the essence of which allows man to fully understand himself. In radical terms, to find enlightenment.
“For it is granting that first conveys to man that share in revealing which the coming-to-pass of revealing needs. As the one so needed and used, man is given to belong to the coming-to-pass of truth. The granting that sends in one way or another into revealing is as such the saving power. For the saving power lets man see and enter into the highest dignity of his essence” (32).
Heidegger, Martin. “The Question Concerning Technology.” The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Trans. William Lovitt. New York: Garland Publishing Inc, 1977. 3-35
By “granting,” Heidegger is speaking of the technology that provides inspiration and foundation for creating more technology, and thus extending our own selves and possibilities of knowing. It is, at its roots, a self-propagating system: create technology to create more technology.
However, Heidegger is also saying that technology is not, as we might think, a tool to be wielded. It is still a means to an end, yes, but it is also an extension of our own minds and spirits. Thus, by achieving technological advancement for the sake of technological advancement, we make ourselves greater than we are, or unlock hidden potential because we are not using it to further aims outside our own Being.
If you look at it that way, it appears we are machines ourselves, creating technology to find purpose, focused on the process of extension because, once we extend completely, we have reached a dead end
“If reflective Being can displace enframing as the predominant mode in which ontological concealment unfolds, then humanity’s relationships with machines, artefacts, and tools can become enhancing. Technology will no longer exert the strait-jacketed absolute claim over existence. Thus freed, humanity can explore anew the mystery and ‘giftedness’ of Being” (224).
Graham, Elaine L. “Gods and monsters.” Representations of the post/human: Monsters, aliens and
others in popular culture. Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002. 221-235
Graham’s emphasis on reflective Being might perhaps suggest that, when creating technology, there is never failure. One cannot fail when crafting technology for Being, as the whole goal is to learn more about the human essence. Which one will always do when creating, even in failure. But, to craft technology for a purpose outside the understanding of human Being, one is most often met with disappointment, and will sometimes then declaim technology as a failure and a curse on mankind. Remove these goalposts, and one will never be disappointed. One will always be satisfied, for they have gleaned just a little bit more into human essence.
There is a catch, however. What if a human gleans a little too far into their technological disputes? In Fukunaga’s “Maniac,” the characters in Annie and Owen’s dreams are not characters they’ve made up themselves, but people in their own lives adapted into roles. One takeaway from this, though perhaps one of the shallower ones, is that man never really creates, but merely repurposes and repackages.
How would this bode for Heidegger’s theory of enlightenment, if true? Would it mean that the revealing is pointless to pursue, as someone else is bound to receive the same revealing in a different light because it is always built on someone’s else’s technological achievement? Does it suggest that, even if we do manage to enframe the essence, it is too wild to control and essentially out of our hands?
There are many “why bother” questions, but I suppose their strength would depend on just how willing one is to block out all other sights except those revealed by technology. Even if those sights have nothing to do with technology, but other, less mechanical portions of the human psyche.
Morning's Early Dark 