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Session 18

Session 18. Scoping Your Final Paper Topic & Argument (revisiting Heilbroner’s ‘Soft Determinism’) Outlining Exercise. ScopING your TOPIC + argument. Revisiting Heilbroner ’s “Soft Determinism”. Do Machines Make History?.

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Session 18

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  1. Session 18 Scoping Your Final Paper Topic & Argument (revisiting Heilbroner’s ‘Soft Determinism’) Outlining Exercise

  2. ScopING your TOPIC + argument Revisiting Heilbroner’s “Soft Determinism”

  3. Do Machines Make History? • “that machines make history in some sense—that the level of technology has a direct bearing on the human drama—is of course obvious” [….BUT…..] • How to “say something systematic” and “order the problem so that it becomes intellectually manageable” [SCOPE THE CLAIM IN ORDER TO MAKE IT MORE CREDIBLE]

  4. Heilbroner - Scope • Possibilities for examining this claim that machines make history: • The political course of history – i.e. technologies of war • The social attitude underlying history – i.e. effects of radio or TV • The content of life – its texture and substance as connected to tech order • “the effect of technology in determining the nature of the socioeconomic order” – specifically “technologies of production” (i.e the hand mill, steam mill)

  5. Heilbroner - Argument • Initial Claim – there is a fixed sequence to technological development • Evidence: innovations happen at the same time (without connection btwn) • Evidence: inventions are evolutionary (no sudden leaps) • Evidence: we seem to know what is coming next (general predictions)

  6. Heilbroner - Argument • Initial Claim – there is a fixed sequence to technological development • Evidence: innovations happen at the same time (without connection btwn) • Evidence: inventions are evolutionary (no sudden leaps) • Evidence: we seem to know what is coming next (general predictions)

  7. Heilbroner – More Scoping • Initial Claim – the impact on “society” is on “relationships of production” • Specifically – composition of the labor force (skilled vs. unskilled, at home vs. at factory site) • Specifically – orders of supervision and coordination (men-manager confrontations, industrial managers)

  8. Heilbroner - Qualifications • Heilbroner makes clear his case is one of a SOFT Determinism • Qualification 1: there is a social element in the design of technology – “the machine will reflect…the social relationships of work” • Qualification 2: technological progress is a social activity that not all societies puruse • Qualification 3: the course of tech advance is responsive to social directions • Qualification 4: tech change must be compatible with existing social conditions

  9. Heilbroner – Problem Space? • Not entirely clear. • Perhaps – the very question of scoping and arguing this claim “do machines make history?” • “to see if there is an empirical content—in the idea of technological determinism…” • “see if we can place the salvageable elements of the theory in historical perspective—” • What do we mean by problem space?

  10. Topic: anonymity • Problem space: • How does anonymity either foster or inhibit community building? • How is ‘community’ possible given extreme full anonymity? • Case: 4chan • What do we gain or lose from different forms of anonymity or pseudonymity in online spaces? • Case: 4chan • Case: World of Warcraft

  11. Readings /How to Read

  12. Assignment 2 – Part II

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