To Dominate or to be Dominated. About the Attitude of Humans to Technology in Modern Culture

Abstract

The article presents historical aspects of thinking about technology in terms of dominating or being dominated. The terminological analysis, distinguishing the terms “robot” and “automaton,” allowed for outlining different traditions from which they originated. The fear that machines will take work away from people has been proven to be cyclical in four industrial revolutions and their social perception; it has been demonstrated to occur regularly beforehand and likely to return. In the main part of the article, examples of duels between man and algorithm are presented and an attempt to propose a new model of thinking about technology as a human-technological hybrid is made.