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"Do Machines Make History?" by Robert Heilbroner

Technological determinism and autonomous technology have been discussed in the

philosophy, history, and sociology of technology. For instance, in the history of technology, the

term technological determinism refers to technologies that are complex and systems that embody

their history while evolving in term of, among others, vested interests, built-in components, and

previous choices which have made technologies not only determined but also autonomous. In

comparison, technological determinism claim that technology determines the culture and social

relation of society. Autonomous technology claims that technology develops with its logic and is

not controlled by human beings. However, that does not mean that human beings are not

intricate, but autonomous questions the freedom of humans in deciding the application and

development of technology. The two terms, technological determinism and autonomous

technology, are related in that technology determines the culture and social relation of a society

and, therefore, society and culture cannot affect its direction. This means that autonomous

technology, in general, entails technological determinism and not vice versa. The terms that

resulted in different scholars, historians, philosophers, and suchlike give their thoughts about

whether technology is autonomous and determinism. Jacques Ellul being amongst the famous

proponent of the autonomy thesis in his article "The 'Autonomous' of the Technological

Phenomenon," and Robert Heilbroner in his article "Do Machines Make History?" siding with
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Jacques but also not fully subscribing to the Marxian notion of technology of the prime mover of

culture and the society.

To this end, this paper aims at exploring Robert Heilbroner's version of technological

determinism in his article "Do Machines Make History?" which seems more justifiable as

compared to Jacques Elul's version. The reason being, Robert does not subscribe entirely to the

Marxian notion of technology being the prime mover of culture and society, nor does he

disregard the role played by technology in shaping social history. He argues that social history is

an interaction between amongst others, science, economics, politics, education, and culture that

is kind of complex.

To start with, Robert Heilbroner, in relation to other philosophers' views on machines and

the impacts they have on society, is very critical. Robert analyzes the Marxian notion of

technology, which he uses as a basis in his arguments. During his analysis raises, Robert tries to

understand how production can impact social order and relations. He also attempts to

comprehend how technologies put in motion influences society and are progressive. In this way,

Robert focuses on machines concerning social changes and economics to try to explain both the

history by technological determinism as well as technological determinism historically. Robert

believes that there exists a sequence in developing technology- that is, he argues that the

development of advanced machines is likely impossible when there is no social, consequent, and

logical development (Robert 443). For instance, Robert believes that proceeding to the age of

steam-mill means first passing via the hand-mill period. The same way the nuclear power age

comes after the electricity age. Robert is trying to say that technology advancement tends only to

grow when there is something to back it or grow from, such as knowledge and understanding.

Examples to be given include that it would be impossible to develop flying cars without
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perfecting the driven one. Without a proper understanding of technology, it would be impossible

to create applications.

To back his argument, Robert suggests the simultaneity of the invention phenomenon

(443). He argues that technical evolution does not occur randomly but follows a sequential and

determinate. Technology develops step by step based on the accumulated technical skills,

knowledge, and suchlike. Therefore, a society has to pass through every step to get to the level of

technology today. However, since technology and nuclear are intertwined, a breakthrough in

technology can arise from new scientific discoveries and not necessarily from society's

experiences. For instance, the knowledge of splitting an atom led to nuclear technology and not

the experience the society had on electricity. In this case, I feel that Robert is trying to argue that

technology is built off each other, knowledge, and understanding. He continues that the absence

of discontinuities in the development of the production technology and the fact that technology

capabilities are predictable are suggestions of technology following a sequence in its

development (443). On technology predictability, Robert does an excellent job of clarifying that

he does not tend to say that we can lay down schedules of technical discovery, nor does it rule

out extensively the possibility of accurate predictions. The reason being, many scientists predict

the nature of the technology in the near and far future. Following Robert, the technological

process is sequential means that machines tend to grow more complicated in the scientific and

technological development of society. The developments are accompanied by economic and

social relations that are more complicated, evidence of technological determinism.

Additionally, Robert states that the rise of capitalism may have played a significant role

in developing production technology (446). However, one would be mistaken to argue that the

rise of capitalism was the only cause of intention of various consumer products only because
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they did not exist before capitalism. The development could have been due to demand to satisfy

particular needs or government economic policy that allowed the free exchange of ideas and raw

materials, and suchlike. For example, in arguing Marx's notion on why the hand mill existed and

not the steam mill in the feudal age, one could say that the science of that age was not developed

enough to produce a steam mill. Besides, the development of the steam mill could have been

accelerated by the feudal lord deciding to outlaw the use of the hand mills for any particular

reason. That is to mean, the development of some products should not only be credited to an

industrial capitalist but also inventor manufacturers that rose and the science giving a new

impetus to technology. Robert acknowledges that for technology to shape society and the history

of technological determinism, there has to exist a market system and education as per the

examples given above (446). For technology to be accepted by society, it has to be needed. For

instance, in a society where labor is cheap and abundant as a factor of production, labor-saving

machinery might be rejected, suggesting that technological determinism might be misleading,

according to the author.

Robert as well acknowledges the vital role played by certain technologies in the course of

history and, in particular, the warfare realm and the peoples' social attributes-precisely, the

influences of broadcast media in the political behavior of the people. However, the fact that the

education level of that society determines the role technology plays in shaping the society and its

history makes his acknowledgment conditional (447). For example, to make steam engines

requires the society to have the knowledge and understanding of the elastic properties of steam

and the ability to cast iron cylinders of given dimensions and tolerable accuracy. Without the

knowledge, understanding, and capability, the technology would be useless. In addition, the

principle of demand and supply is vital when putting into consideration the impacts a specific
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technology will have on the social history of a given society. Robert believes that the emergence

of a market system organized around the private property principle made it possible for

technology to impact the market economy. The impacts are also determined by social policy and

the political structure of a given society- that is, to develop technological advances, society must

have worthy incentives.

Furthermore, Robert emphasizes that at different times, different civilizations had

distinguished levels of socioeconomics and technological development while trying to trace the

effects of social relations and economics on technological development and machine emergence.

It is in this instance he rejects the linear development of technologies, socioeconomics relation,

and order. Robert draws examples from different civilizations, such as the Arab civilization,

which, after reaching the peak of development, degraded gradually socioeconomically (446).

This resulted in technological developments declination. The degradation led to some

civilization's social relations, production mode, and technologies to remain constant. In this case,

Robert is attempting to prove that machines and technological development go hand in hand with

social development. In this, I am with Robert that technological, social, and socioeconomics

changes are all intertwined.

However, in Robert's arguments, I feel that he fails to acknowledge the fact that the

initial conditions of people differ, and these are the conditions that civilization deploys.

Exemplary, the Kalahari bushmen, unlike the Europeans who have ample resources for better

tools and machines developed, the bushmen persisted in Neolithic technology as they lacked the

resources and struggled for survival (446). The new machines change the mode of production,

which Robert noted writing that change of production relations leads to a change in the labor

force and work organization, among others. That is, a particular work organization hierarchical,
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and the labor force is required for a given technology to function. For instance, the nuclear and

electricity age requires attendants that are skilled differently, and automation still further changes

the mix of skills and work organization, which suggests that machines reflect and molds the

social relationship of work and society. The progression of technology has led to the newly

developed machines taking many jobs before belonging to people (445). However, the machines

also create more jobs that require specialized works. In general, technology imposes political and

social features to the society in which it is found. Society is forced to adjust to adapt to the social

changes that technology brings. The adjustment to the new technology and society affects

management structure, education and training, labor markets, regulation systems, and others. The

adjustment period is defined by instability and turmoil of the institutions but is followed by a

period of success based on the new technologies. The information indicates that technology

causes some sort of harm on the course of history, which Robert is aware of.

Robert is arguably cautious in his views regarding technological determinism or rather

the role played by technology in shaping the social history of a society. Considering all his

arguments as mentioned above, he does not subscribe completely to the Marxian notion of

technology being the prime mover of culture and society, nor does he disregard the role of

technology in shaping social history. From his arguments, it is clear that on the one hand, Robert

agrees that some of the sociological features of the society, such as education, political, social,

and economic systems result from the society's technological infrastructures. For instance, only

face-to-face or in-person learning existed. With the evolution of technology, education has

adapted to innovations and created online education or learning via the internet. This education

methodologist has affected social life as students now interact through online platforms such as

e-mail and others. The use of devices such as computers, mobile phones, among others, has
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eased communication as people can interact more virtually – this has had both negative and

positive effects on social life. Also, the development of technology of production has resulted in

some people losing their jobs to machines and others with specialized skills being employed to

handle the machines, which has influenced both the social life and the economy as machines

reduce the cost of production (446). On the other hand, Robert is aware of the danger logical

fallacy poses. Regardless, he has demonstrated that one has to understand the two, that is, the

role of technology in social history and Marx's notion of technology.

Conclusively, Robert Heilbroner's version of technological determinism in his article "Do

Machines Make History?" seems more justifiable as compared to Jacques Elul's "The

'Autonomous' of the Technological Phenomenon." The fact that Robert does not subscribe

completely to the Marxian notion of technology being the prime mover of culture and society,

nor does he disregard the role played by technology in shaping social history but argues that

social history is an interaction between amongst others, science, economics, politics, education,

and culture that is kind of complex makes his arguments tenable. As per the discussion above,

his arguments are centered on answering whether the nature of socioeconomic order is

determined by technology. To answer his question, Robert attempts to explain that technology

evolves in sequence providing evidence such as the absence of discontinuity in technology, the

fact that technology is predictable, and the simultaneity of the invention. Exemplary, proceeding

to the age of steam-mill means first passing via the hand-mill age. Per Robert, there is an

influence on how political and social characteristics upon society are imposed by technology. To

back up his argument, he discusses the labor force composition and works organizational

hierarchy. Robert remains cautious, refusing to agree that technology is the sole determinant of a

society fully. However, he agrees that technology is a social activity, and changes must be
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compatible with existing conditions- that is, for a technology to be accepted by society, it has to

be needed. A suitable market system must be available. Finally, he argues that the development

of some products should not only be credited to an industrial capitalist but also inventor

manufacturers that rose and the science giving a new impetus to technology.
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Work Cited

Scharff, Robert C., and Val Dusek. Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition -

An Anthology. Wiley-Blackwell, 2003.