Autonomous Technology: Technics-out-of-Control as a Theme in Political Thought

By L. Winner. 1977

Subfields: Philosophy, Social Sciences & Humanities

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Citations in the corpus

BLOOM: A 176B-Parameter Open-Access Multilingual Language Model (2022, background): “Second, in a world mediated by technology, choices at all stages of its development end up shaping people’s lives in a way that can be most closely compared to regulations (Winner, 1977, 2017), albeit without the same explicit consultation of stakeholders in the process.”
Talking AI into Being: The Narratives and Imaginaries of National AI Strategies and Their Performative Politics (2021, background): “…to technology that transcends human con-trol, confronting society with a seemingly all-pervasive and inevitable development (Brown et al. 2016; Winner 1978) while obscuring the contingencies and power relations of human interaction in the social, political, and economic realm on which any…”
Machine learning, social learning and the governance of self-driving cars (2018, unknown): “Technology, however, is never self-driving (Bijker et al., 1987; Winner, 1977).”
Scrutinizing an algorithmic technique: the Bayes classifier as interested reading of reality (2017, background): “Winner ’ s diagnosis that ‘ our standard conceptions of technology reveal disorientation that borders on dissociation from reality ’ (Winner, 1978, p. 8) rings true more than ever.”
A critique of using grounded theory as a research method (2003, background): “Often technology appears if not autonomous then at least selfaugmenting (Ellul 1964, Winner 1977).”
Innovation processes in governance: The development of ‘emissions trading’ as a new policy instrument (2007, unknown): “They can get “out of control” (Winner, 1977).”
Some political and cultural issues in the globalisation of software development: case experience from Britain and India (2001, unknown): “Winner (1977) defined technology as comprising artefacts, techniques and methods of organisation.”
Climate change and COP26: Are digital technologies and information management part of the problem or the solution? An editorial reflection and call to action (2022, background): “…matter how “ controlled ” the socio-technical transitions are through, for example, regulation and policy mandates (Smith et al., 2005), and (ii) interventions themselves are a form of “ technology ” that are subject to independent and autonomous forces that are “ uncontrollable ” (Winner, 1978).”
The Relevance of Algorithms (2013, background): “Mais do que qualquer coisa, os algoritmos são projetados e apreciados para serem funcionalmente automáticos; para, quando acionados, agirem sem qualquer intervenção ou supervisão regular de humanos (WINNER, 1977).”