----------
Hello, Houston, we have a problem...
Regardless of which of the multiple realms of agency and symbol you subscribe to in relation to technology, technology does not have an autonomous realm that is independent of its creation, its function, or its demise. I would go so far as to say technology is as determined by and expressive of its socio-political and cultural origins as any art form. And in fact the two, art and technology are so closely entwined in my mind that I am not sure I can distinguish between them.
For example consider the book and the gun. Imagine a photo still of the King James Bible with the traditional black soft cover, and the well worn walnut stock of a Winchester. Place them side by side with a dog eared copy of the Koran opened and an AK-47 with the bluing worn off.
If you want to symbolize colonialism there seems to be nothing better than a pith helmet, a bolt action carbine, and a bag of diamonds.
One of the more macabre, but interesting technologies are the old prison and slave trade devices like shackles, leg irons, ball and chain, waist belts, neck irons and similar devices for making the handling of men, easier.
San Francisco used to be the home port for the USS Enterprise when it was part of WESTPAC. One morning on the way out of the bay for a fishing trip, we passed near its stern in the early light mist. It was back lighted by the sun, just coming up. It was huge, dark, bristling with pointed, sharp angled masses of jet fighters on is stern, where anti-aircraft batteries were placed in the undercarriage of the flight deck. It looked exactly like the consummate alien evil it was. I wish I had a camera with me, because there is just no describing its scale and the effect of its looming aspect of death seen in extreme foreshortening from the water line.
If somebody on our boat had said, hey Chuck technology is neutral you know, I would have laughed. The USS Enterprise is the perfect symbol for the evil empire: a vast machine of death with a burning heart of nuclear fission and the electronic brain of a predatory insect.
Since I am a mechanic, I work with technology all day long, and I am absolutely convinced that technology is alive, it speaks to me about what it's up to, where it came from, what kind of people designed and made it, what the assholes who sold it were thinking. Not even a nut, a screw, or a washer is neutral.
There are deep philosophical worlds to behold in these things. Consider the realms of the Metric v. SAE, or the difference in plating alloys. The Taiwanese and Japanese seem to like a slightly gold colored plating, were mainland China and the US prefer a bright zinc look. Asia in general has a weird sense of electrical wiring and their connector plugs border on the bizarre, something like Chinese finger puzzles. The Germans like gray and blue and their plating is slightly dull silver gray. Thank God the Germans mark their bolts with symbols so you know the size, thread, and probable strength. On the other hand, they seem to have an aversion to welding, since they bolt everything together. The English need to stay away from anything electrical, as Lucas Ltd proves. I am certain the French hate machines on principle and as a species have completely rejected the industrial revolution. The Italians have a split personality. On the one hand what they love, they make as well as the Germans, and what they hate they seem to throw together like the Vietnamese. The Indians and Thais seem to have decided that industry is just a good excuse for lousy craftsmanship. Their hearts are definitely not into it.
I wish I could get my hands on something Russian. I would learn more about them, about their soul, their passions and indifference, their way of thinking. I suspect they are a little like the Italians, split personalities along different lines. Incredible tightwads like the Chinese on some things, sloppy as hell on others---if it works, its good enough---and absurdly generous, full to the brim and overflowing on others.
And the Americans? They are pure assholes by design. There is not a nut or bolt or a washer or an electrical connector or a screw that hasn't been especially engineered to break off in your hand, just in order to prove America has screwed you out of your hard earned money---while they are laughing all the way to the bank. You can not repair American shit. If it breaks, then throw it away and get another one, period. If you don't want to live that way, then buy stuff from somebody else.
The only thing I've worked on from Australia are large cans of beer, so I conclude they don't actually do anything except drink and bitch.
Chuck Grimes