1
INTRODUCTION

Natural, technical and social power

What is power? Most people use this word freely without even knowing what it means. Usually, it is something social. However, it might also be light or electricity. For social scientists, it is usually a characteristic of a social relation between people, with one being ‘above’ and another ‘below’. Physicists focus on natural forces such as gravity and energy, such as electricity. Technicians and engineers are talking about the capacity of the hardware or software they are working with. Some scholars are combining two or more types of power. Philosophers of technology deal with the relation between technical and social power, or technology and society. Ecologists deal with the relation between humans or societies and their natural environment. Sometimes they also pay attention to human technology, so clearly touching on nature.

The definition of power I use in this book comes close to that of ecologists. My definition is extremely broad. It is an attempt to develop a general concept of power uniting social, technical and natural power. This is an ambitious plan, never made before. I am a social scientist and all my academic life I have been concerned with the relation between technology and society with a focus on digital media. It would be much easier for me to deal with social and technical power only. Why should I include nature in my discussion about power and technology?

I did this for two reasons. The first is that social scientists and philosophers take nature for granted in studying technology. It is seen as the background, or a reality used or needed for technology. However, nature has its own causes directly affecting both technologies and societies. For instance, nuclear power has different effects on the organization of technology and society than solar power. The second reason is that it must be evident now that our advanced and massive technology has a great ecological impact on nature potentially leading to an uninhabitable earth. In my book I often use strong words like ‘nature strikes back’. We benefit from nature; we are part of it. But the power of nature in our use of technology is increasingly coming back on us.

I am not satisfied with the focus of fellow social scientists, historians and philosophers in their discussions of power and technology. Most of them barely deal with technology. The impressive four volumes in the history of power by Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power,1 only discuss social power as the title says and scarcely mention technology as a key factor in human history. The ‘radical view’ on power of the oft-cited Steven Lukes2 analyses social power only, with no reference to technology. The philosopher Michel Foucault has a relational concept of power which is close to the one used in this book. Unfortunately, he focuses on public institutions and human bodies and has no interest in technology. Sociologists and philosophers of technology do focus on the relation between social and technical power.3 However, the sociologist Manuel Castells takes natural power for granted in discussing technical power, and, in the relation between social and technical power, he develops an instrumentalist view of technology used by humans and societies in a type of technological determinism.4

My concept of technology in this book is also broad. It is not only about technics and artifacts but also about knowledge, organization and culture, as discussed in chapter 3.

With these concepts in mind, I asked ChatGPT 4 on 23 October 2023: ‘What is the relation between power and technology?’ The answer was erratic, but the first lines made sense: ‘The relationship between power and technology is a complex and multifaceted one. Technology is the practical application of scientific knowledge and the invention and use of devices to improve human performance. Power, on the other hand, is the ability of individuals or groups to shape events.’ Here again, the relation is of technical and social power only.

A framework of power

In chapter 2, I am first looking for a theory of power for the natural, technical and social world. I started with a framework of all the concepts of power I could find. The result was a logical framework of three types and nine appearances of power. The first type is material power with three appearances of power: force, construction and coercion. This type of power belongs to natural, physical/organic and social reality. The second type is physical power working between the bodies of humans and between the bodies of humans and machines. This type focuses on technical and social reality. Its appearances are domination, discipline and dependency. The third type is mental power. Appearances are information, persuasion and authority. This type links social and technical power, though information is also a dimension in the natural world.

This book treats the concept of power as both power over and as power to. In social science, power over other human beings is by far the most used concept. In natural and technical science, usually power to is a capacity of working natural and technical objects.

The theory of power in the natural, technical and social world

A framework is not yet a theory. A theory offers not only understanding but also explanations. In this book I am trying to explain the relations between the natural, technical and social world with two core concepts: mediation and interaction. They are part of a dialectical view of technology as a mediator. The main characteristics are a mutual shaping of technology and society and a focus on tensions, conflicts, opposites and transformations (see chapter 4). The relational view of power between and inside the natural, technical and social world also has a base in physics as in the theory of quantum mechanics. Do not close the book, please! This theory is only discussed in simple and general terms. The intention is to show that reality does not consist of independent entities with fixed attributes but of properties that are only realized with regard to others and only when they interact (see chapter 2). Similarly, power is only realized in practice when all counterpowers and contexts have done their work.

A second core of this theory is the principle of general symmetry proposed by Bruno Latour, John Law and Actor-Network Theory. This principle means that all entities in the natural, technical and social world should be treated equally and described in the same terms. For this reason, I am using here the words actors, actants (artifacts) and working natural entities in the same manner. Of course, their nature is different, but from a power perspective there are similarities too.

Power at all levels

In chapters 5, 6 and 7 this framework and theory will be applied to an overview of power at all social levels. The first is the micro-level of individuals and their use of technology with a spotlight on the human–machine interface. The second is the meso-power in organizations, highlighting the relation between organizations and technologies. The broadest is the macro-level of societies where I will characterize several types of societies focusing on one of the nine appearances of power. For instance, force indicates a technological society. At all levels I will discuss the same analytic categories such as mutual operation (humans and technologies), direction (who or what is in charge), monitoring (surveillance and sousveillance) and adaptation (change and resistance). In chapter 8 the framework and theory will be applied to the main case in this book: the power of artificial intelligence (AI) working at all social levels.

How to control which technology?

In a technological society, technology is everywhere and pervasive in all activities. In the history of technology also sketched in this book, it seems to be steadily more automatic and autonomous. Humans are moving to the margins of working technology until it moves within the human body using embodied technology (chapter 3). How can humans stay in control when, for instance, AI seems to decide what happens, software programs itself and killer robots are launched in warfare? Control is the final result of power. Chapter 9 will end with a list of all the current main strategies to control technology.

However, I will start there with the question: what future technology do we actually want? In an effort to dominate nature, humans have developed an exploitative, destructive, unsafe and wasteful technology, even when it offered us a longer, healthier, more prosperous, comfortable and enjoyable life, at least for half of the world’s population. Is it possible to find an innovative sustainable technology to reach a more symbiotic (living together) power between humans and nature? It seems to be utopia today. Still, this was one of my main motives in writing this book.

Notes

1. 1. Michael Mann (1986, 1993, 2012, 2012). The Sources of Social Power, 4 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. 2. Steven Lukes (1974, 2005). Power: A Radical View. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
3. 3. For instance: Faridun Sattarov (2019). Power and Technology: A Philosophical and Ethical Analysis. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
4. 4. Manuel Castells (1996, 1997, 1998). The...