An article from “Social Epistemology” (2005) concerning technological determinism and the social construction of technology
Social EpistemologyVol. 19, Nos. 2-3, April–September 2005, pp. 287–313 Recognizing the Role of the Modern Business Corporation in the “Social Construction” of Technology Wade Rowland Conventional models for Social Construction of Technology fail to take into account the prevailing influence of a new technological/social phenomenon-the modern business corpo- ration. Corporate autonomy, power and influence, as exhibited especially since the mid- 1970s, has made necessary the consideration of a new concept: the Technological Construc- tion of Society, a novel form of...
Read MoreCorporate Cyborgs: the Ontology of the Modern Business Corporation
Wade Rowland Introduction (Note: a version of this article was published in the journal Social Epistemoplogy in 2005) Corporations are much in the news as this is being written. Pharmaceutical firms are being questioned for their unwillingness to provide affordable anti-AIDS drugs to Africa, and for having promoted hormone replacement therapy for menopausal Western women with bogus health claims. Corporate concentration in media is being called a threat to democracy, second only to corporate donations to political campaigns. Corporate lobbies...
Read MoreWill Covid-19 Give Canada a Guaranteed Basic Income Plan?
With the adoption early Wednesday morning of legislation to seamlessly transfer Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) recipients over to Employment Insurance, Ottawa has moved one step closer to implementing a guaranteed basic income for all Canadians. The revamped EI program will provide those transitioning from the CERB with an identical $500 per week subsidy for at least 26 weeks. They need not be unemployed—they can work and earn up to a maximum of $38,000 per year while still claiming the EI benefit. That looks remarkably similar to a pilot guaranteed basic income (GBI) trial...
Read MoreA Covid-19 introduction to Morality by Design: Technology’s Challenge to Human Values
Morality By Design was published in November, 2019, about the same time as scientists in Wuhan, China, discovered a novel coronavirus that would come to be identified by the name COVID-19, and in coming months sweep the world as a pandemic. Had the book been published a few months later, this is the preface I might have written for it. • It is impossible to write about ethics in this chaotic time, without making some reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. Or to the massive social justice demonstrations that broke out in the midst of the global health crisis, provoked initially by the viral...
Read MoreMessage to Kayleigh: Surrogacy is Hazardous
Note: This was written for Huffington Post October 21, 2016. McEnany (Pres. Donald Trump’s new press secretary) obviously was not paying attention. by Wade Rowland There was a lot that was extraordinary about Wednesday night’s third presidential debate in Las Vegas, not the least of which was Donald Trump’s assertion that he, and not the electorate, would decide who won the election on November 9th. But looking beyond the content of the debate itself, there is much to be learned about the media and its problematic role in modern elections. Watching the circus-like event and...
Read MoreAbout Wade Rowland
Ranked among Canada’s leading literary journalists, Wade Davies Rowland has written more than a dozen books on subjects ranging from television journalism, organized crime, and international environmental law to his current concerns, which include communications technology, the philosophy of science, and technology and human values. Full author bio.