Kline (1985) Critique

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Critique #1: Kline (1985) In the 1985 article written by Stephen J. Kline titled “What Is Technology?”, Kline answers this question by analyzing the word “technology” in four different types of usages: Hardware (or Artifacts); Sociotechnical System Of Manufacture; Knowledge, Technique, Know-How, Or Methodology; and A Sociotechnical System Of Use. By analyzing these types of usages, Kline is trying to make us see beyond our vague understanding of “technology” as we know it and see its much deeper meaning. Meaning that not just defined us as human species from the beginning of time, but has also made us become “the lords of the planet” today. The article adds valuable information to help us better understand the vague meaning of the word “technology” through a thorough breakdown of the four usages and their examples, although the author misses to present us with any supporting documents on where his analysis has come from. Kline’s article focuses mostly on proofing that “technology” does not have as vague of a meaning as we make it out to be and he does so by giving us four common usages of it. Each of these usages define “technology” as something created by the human species. Kline also uses examples to give his readers examples for each of usages to give a better connection between his theory and everyday life. Through the study of human patterns, he tries to take us on a journey of how “technology” is crucial to our survival as human species. One of those usages is “Hardware (or Artifacts), which Kline describes as “non-natural objects, of all kinds, manufactured by humans.” What he is trying to say is that these objects can be anything that is made by a human and was not made natural such as glass, roads or furniture. All of these objects are human built and were not made by nature. However what Kline misses to provide in any of the four usages for the word

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