{"id":4863,"date":"2015-06-16T10:00:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T09:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsletter.alt.ac.uk\/?p=4863"},"modified":"2015-09-01T22:58:25","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T21:58:25","slug":"the-question-of-disruptive-technologies-some-heretical-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2015\/06\/the-question-of-disruptive-technologies-some-heretical-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"The Question of \u2018Disruptive Technologies\u2019: some heretical thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Video introduction and overview<\/a><\/h3>\n

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Imagine the river Rhine<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Imagine the landscape of the river Rhine: an image of nature in its full natural essence. The river flows freely without any disruption. There is only the natural noise of the water and no human intervention. Martin Heidegger, one of the most influential thinkers of our era, invited us to consider the river as a metaphor for human ability to understand and use technology. In his essay \u2018The Question Concerning Technology\u2019<\/a>, he asked us to imagine the same landscape again, but this time with a wooden bridge that has connected the two banks of the river for hundreds of years. The essence of the river remains the same: the water flows freely, there are no major disruptions to the ecosystem and no pollution as a result of this human intervention in the landscape. The river retains its own value, we simply cross over it.\u00a0Now consider the landscape with a hydroelectric plant built into the river. A dam has been created, the river flow has been changed and the water is now being used to run a power station. The essence of the river and the way we see and use it have changed because of this intervention. Heidegger hates the dam not because it damages the river but because it reduces it to something else, something that no longer stands on its own.<\/p>\n

Heidegger\u2019s essay has recently attracted attention in the field of educational technology. The essay itself is very complicated, so I am not going to attempt to analyse or critique Heidegger\u2019s position on technology. However I feel that there is an important point worth putting forward for further thinking and discussion in relation to creation and disruption with new and emerging technologies.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bringing-forth\u2019 and \u2018challenging-forth\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Humans are capable of two aligned but distinct ways of bringing about things:<\/p>\n