Difference between revisions of "Convivial Systems"

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<font size="4"><b>The Theory and Practice of Convivial Systems</b></font size>
 
<font size="4"><b>The Theory and Practice of Convivial Systems</b></font size>
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==From convivial tools to convivial systems==
 
==From convivial tools to convivial systems==
Ivan Illich laid the foundations for a theory of the convivial tool. In line with his general theme of giving back to ordinary people the control over knowledge that has been monopolized by specialized elites, Illich envisaged tools which would allow their users to operate with independent efficiency. He also foresaw that such tools would be developed and maintained by a community of users.
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Ivan Illich laid the foundations for a theory of the convivial tool. Developing his constant theme of giving back to ordinary people the control over knowledge that has been monopolized by specialized elites, Illich envisaged tools which would allow their users to operate with independent efficiency. He also foresaw that such tools would be developed and maintained by a community of users.
  
Illich however was addressing tools in the limited sense of individual technical artifacts, even though such artifacts could attain the size of a factory or power plant. But there is another wider definition of tools and technology, which was notably promoted by Jacques Ellul in his book The Technological Society. Ellul grouped tools and technology under the broader category of “technique,” which he defined as "the totality of methods rationally arrived at, and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity." Thus “technique” includes for example the rational methods used to run a modern state: statistics, accounting, social work and so on. (Ellul’s pessimistic conclusion was that the totality of techniques escapes from human control and follows its own unstoppable evolution. And Illich’s program can be seen as an attempt to regain control over that process.)
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Illich however was addressing tools in the limited sense of individual technical artifacts, even though such artifacts could attain the size of a factory or power plant. But there are other, wider, definitions of tools and technology, such as that promoted by Jacques Ellul in his book The Technological Society. Ellul grouped tools and technology under the broader category of “technique,” which he defined as: "the totality of methods rationally arrived at, and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity." Thus “technique” includes for example the rational methods used to run a modern state: statistics, accounting, social work and so on. (Ellul’s pessimistic conclusion was that the totality of techniques escapes from human control and follows its own unstoppable evolution. And Illich’s program can be seen as an attempt to regain control over that process.)
  
 
Yet another wide definition of tools is promoted by those who see ideas as tools (such as for example Dennett). If an individual idea can be seen as a tool, a set of interrelated ideas can be seen as a technical system.
 
Yet another wide definition of tools is promoted by those who see ideas as tools (such as for example Dennett). If an individual idea can be seen as a tool, a set of interrelated ideas can be seen as a technical system.

Revision as of 19:52, 10 January 2011