Modernity and Technology: Initial thoughts on its entirety

The editors did eventually cover my initial questions: Namely, why are we created niches for studying modernity and technology, and why is it important to unite these two fields?

Arie Rip probably states it most simply: This type of analysis provides a window into the human condition and let us 'see' something that we didn't perceive before. In addition, these insights can provide fodder for the bootstrapping mechanisms of hermeneutics that were described in chapter three and was also advocated as a way to enhance our understanding of reality.*

I still don't know if I am entirely convinced of the theoretical trajectories of technology studies provided in this book. It seems as if part of the problem with merging the two fields is created via the definitions in which technology is understood. Several authors mentioned in the book have taken stances that advocate that a more 'cyborg' oriented vision of humanity and technology may be useful for understanding technology. This may be interpreted as positing the idea that technologies should be looked at as vital components of humans and modern infrastructures, not as extensions of them. Donna Haraway's A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century takes a more integrated look at technology, as does Heidegger's writing in general. Perhaps by viewing technology as a given, an author could open a window that more effectively joins modernity and technology theories. I would have liked to see the book explore this definition of technology and reality to a greater degree.

* I realize that statement is a circular argument, but I'm not sure I care at this point. Additionally, hermeneutics admits to being a circular activity. Here's a bit of reasoning that I could refute, but won't.

Why are we studying modernity and technology in
tandem? To understand our
reality.

Then how do we enhance our understanding of reality? By
bootstrapping from existing understandings of reality.

So we already
understand reality? Yes, in some way we
already understand reality.

So why do we want to understand reality when we already have
an
understanding of reality?

I guess it may be a question of why do we care to have these windows into the human condition.