Part 1 - Philosophy, Foundations and Communication

Philosophy of Technology (Heidegger & Beyond)

Martin Heidegger

German philosopher (1889–1976) who wrote 'The Question Concerning Technology' (1954).

Instrumental Definition of Technology

View of technology as a means to an end or tool for accomplishing tasks.

Anthropological Definition of Technology

View of technology as a human activity producing tools, machines, and

inventions.

Techné

Greek root of technology referring to craftsmanship and arts of the mind; a form of bringing-forth.

Epistémé

Greek term for knowing in the widest sense, paired with techné by Heidegger.

Poiésis

Heidegger's term for a poetic 'bringing-forth' that reveals truth.

Aletheia

Greek for 'unconcealment' or 'truth'; revealing being from concealment.

Aristotle's Four Causes

Material (hyle), formal (eidos), final (telos), and efficient (arche) causes that bring things into

presence.

Standing-Reserve (Bestand)

Heidegger's term for objects reduced to disposable resources for human use.

Enframing (Gestell)

Heidegger's process of ordering nature to manipulate it as resource.

Destining

The role humans assume as instruments of technology through enframing.

Calculative Thinking

Human desire to order nature for manipulation.

Meditative Thinking

Allowing nature to reveal itself without force.

Challenging-Forth

Modern technology's mode of revealing that demands nature yield resources.

Information Age & Knowledge Society

Pre-Gutenberg World

Era when books were hand-copied on costly materials and knowledge relied on word-of-mouth.

Johannes Gutenberg

15th-century German inventor of the movable-type printing press (c. 1440).

Gutenberg Bible (B42)

First major Western book printed with movable type, completed February 23, 1455 in Mainz.

Johann Fust

Goldsmith who financed and later took over Gutenberg's printing operation.

Peter Schöffer

Gutenberg's employee who, with Fust, published the Psalter of 1457.

Psalter of 1457

First printed book with a colophon, color printing, and printed music.

Incunabula

Books printed in the Gutenberg era ('cradle/birthplace' of printing).

Gutenberg Principle

Model where centralized institutions act as expensive intermediaries managing information.

Social Information Principle

Decentralized peer-to-peer ability to connect and share without gatekeepers.

ARPANET

Early internet developed in 1969 by the US DoD and UCLA researchers.

World Wide Web

Created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, enabling hyperlinked online content.

Mosaic

Early web browser developed by Marc Andreessen in 1993.

First Modern Information Revolution

Mid-19th century introduction of telegraph, telephone, and radio.

Second Modern Information Revolution

Mid-20th century era of television, early computers, and satellites.

Third Modern Information Revolution

Knowledge revolution beginning in the 1980s with advanced information

technologies.

Cuneiform

Sumerian writing system; foundational knowledge technology of the Ancient Period.

Neolithic Revolution

Transition from nomadic life to settled agriculture, beginning around 6000 BCE in Mesopotamia.

Mythos to Logos

Transition from mythological to rational/natural explanations of phenomena.

Thales of Miletus

Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher marking the intellectual shift from mythos to logos.

Heron's Aeolipile

Ancient steam-powered device, first proof of concept for steam power.

James Watt

Engineer who evolved the steam engine into a universal power source.

Penicillin

Antibiotic discovered by Alexander Fleming, mass-produced during WWII.

Technocapitalism & Digital Society

Technocapitalism

Stage of capitalism where data, IP, knowledge, and innovation drive wealth creation.

Industrial Capitalism

Earlier capitalist phase centered on factories, machinery, and manual labor.

Information Age (1970s–2000s)

Era when information, software, and data replaced raw materials as primary

economic resources.

Digital Age

Current era dominated by big data, AI, algorithms, social media, and cloud computing.

Intellectual Property

Legally protected innovations functioning as profit mechanisms in technocapitalism.

Digital Divide

Inequality between those with and without access to digital technologies.

Data as Capital

STS concept that user data functions as a primary economic resource.

Crowd Wisdom

Collective intelligence emerging from user-generated content and sharing platforms.

Scientific Revolution & Astronomy

Geocentrism

Model placing a stationary Earth at the center with all celestial bodies revolving around it.

Claudius Ptolemy

Greco-Roman astronomer who refined geocentrism using epicycles.

Epicycles

Small circular orbits added atop larger orbits to explain irregular planetary motion.

Retrograde Motion

Apparent temporary backward movement of planets; explained simply by heliocentrism.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Polish astronomer (1473–1543) who introduced the heliocentric model.

Heliocentrism

Model placing the Sun at the center with Earth and planets revolving around it.

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

Copernicus's 1543 book outlining heliocentrism.

Tycho Brahe

Danish astronomer (1546–1601) known for precise pre-telescopic observations.

Johannes Kepler

Astronomer (1571–1630) who formulated the three laws of planetary motion using elliptical orbits.

Galileo Galilei

Italian astronomer (1564–1642) whose telescopic discoveries supported heliocentrism.

Scientific Revolution

Era of evidence-based scientific inquiry catalyzed by the Copernican shift.

Darwinian Revolution

Darwinian Intellectual Revolution

Transformative shift in understanding life through Darwin's evolutionary ideas.

Charles Darwin

English naturalist (1809–1882) who proposed evolution by natural selection.

HMS Beagle

Ship on which Darwin's 1831–1836 voyage shaped his evolutionary observations.

Special Creation

Pre-Darwinian belief that all organisms were created in fixed forms by a divine being.

On the Origin of Species

Darwin's 1859 book introducing the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Descent with Modification

Darwin's principle that species evolve over time from common ancestors.

Natural Selection

Process by which individuals best adapted to their environment differentially survive and reproduce.

Fleeming Jenkin

Critic who argued blending inheritance would dilute advantageous traits.

St. George Mivart

Critic who challenged the utility of small evolutionary variations.

Lord Kelvin

Physicist who doubted Earth was old enough for gradual evolution.

Asa Gray

American botanist who supported evolution but favored a theistic interpretation.

Eclipse of Darwinism

Late 19th/early 20th century period when Darwin's theory lost scientific favor.

Modern Synthesis

1930s–1940s integration of natural selection with Mendelian genetics.

Fisher / Haldane / Wright

Scientists who demonstrated how genetic variation operates in populations under the

Modern Synthesis.

Social Darwinism

Misapplication of 'survival of the fittest' to justify inequality, racism, and imperialism.

Eugenics

Movement to 'improve' the human population through controlled breeding.

Human Exceptionalism

Belief that humans hold a uniquely privileged status outside natural processes.

Human Flourishing & Philosophy

Eudaimonia

Aristotle's concept of human flourishing; highest human good achieved through virtue.

Telos

End goal or ultimate purpose of human actions in Aristotelian ethics.

Phronesis

Practical wisdom; the ability to make virtuous, prudent decisions.

Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle's foundational work on ethics and the nature of human flourishing.

Verification Theory

Statement is scientific only if empirically confirmable through observation.

Falsification Theory

Karl Popper's principle that a theory is scientific only if it can be proven false.

Karl Popper

Philosopher who proposed falsifiability as the criterion of science.

St. Augustine

Theologian who viewed humans as endowed with intellect and freedom by a Supreme Good.

Hedonism

Pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain as the central aim of life.

Man of the World

Modern ideal of flourishing through global connectivity and collective goals.

Materialism

School (Democritus, Leucippus) holding that only matter is real.

Atomos

Indivisible units of matter proposed by ancient Greek atomists.

Democritus

Ancient Greek philosopher who co-founded atomism/materialism.

Hedonism (Epicurean)

School led by Epicurus seeing pleasure as life's end goal.

Stoicism

School teaching apathia

Apathia

Stoic term meaning indifference or freedom from passion.

Theism

Worldview that grounds the meaning of life in communion with God.