Hidden Forces

Engineering Society and the Human Experience | Michael Sacasas

37 snips
Apr 6, 2023
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Technology Shapes Moral Habits

  • Technologies shape our habits and moral character by changing repeated practices into default behaviors.
  • Michael Sacasas argues material culture often undermines virtues like patience by removing occasions to practice them.
INSIGHT

Convivial Tools vs. Enveloping Systems

  • Conviviality names tools and institutions that foster human-scale autonomy and companionship.
  • Illich contrasts convivial tools with systems that make users dependent and require certification or experts.
INSIGHT

Optimization Creates Coping Industries

  • Modern society orders life around optimization and technique, often producing 'humanizing' fixes that serve the system, not people.
  • Sacasas cites Alùl: entertainment and pharmacology soothe a system that otherwise fails human flourishing.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app