MID SEMESTER

Nama : Pijar Kuncoro Yudho

Nim : 0602520037
Iptek 7
1. Introduction
Sport world today is getting technological by combining natural athletic talent
with advanced analytics and artificial intelligent to produce the best possible
outcomes on the playing field of sports. Sport excite people as a triumph of
human effort, with Barr (2016) stating that behind the scenes are a number of
things that go into that triumph and at the top is technology. Technology has been
utilized in sport for many years in various forms and play particularly vital role
especially for the elite sport. Numerous attempts to define technology have
yielded such an array of descriptions that one may resigned to the idea that
technology is simply not definable. On the one hand, it is synonymous with
science and rational thought, encompassing every little gadget ever held in hands.
Cave and Miller (2015) states that technology plays an increasing role in assisting
professional athletes, amateur runners and armchair fans to engage in the sport.
Technology is not just out there in the world, on the contrary, it is inside us as
well. Indeed, on any given day our bloodstreams carry the remnants of ibuprofen
and multivitamins, that many individuals have been technologized, or made more
technologized, through artificial hearts, contact lenses, and other medical
procedures. Technology is describe as any tangible, conceptual, or procedural
element of modern sport and exercise science aimed at progress (Feenberg, 1993;
Miah, 2004) The flexible definition allows everything from advancements in
running shoes and eyewear to different ways of thinking about the body as
technological. In the predigital age, the application of technologies in sport was
heavily concentrated on athlete testing (diagnostics); improved sports equipment
through better engineering and design, and utilized more at competitions. Thus,
early examples of sport technologies were photo finish (1888), physiological
testing equipment (1920’s), the instant replay screen (1955) and first use of
electronic timing touch pads for swimming (1957). Indeed, technology plays an
important part in modern sport, with it being a necessary part of some sports (such
as motorsport), and used in others to improve performance. The thematic
applications of technology include, sporting equipment; clothing and wearable’s;
facilities; competition adjudication and formats; media broadcasting and
communications and performance analytics. Hence, technology and sport have
had something of rocky relationship over the years (Bass & Eynon, 2009). Turner
(2013) opined that in the beginning sports and technology did not always seem
like the most pairing. Considering the nature of sport and equipment use to play
and with recent convergence of technologies many functions are fused into one
small devices. However, the evolution of modern icons would not be possible
without the specialization and personalization of sports science, this allowed
athletes develop in possible ways. Technology increasingly is playing a leading
role in the development of sport and enhances performance in all faces. Thus,
applications of technology allow for more effective training, stimulations,
management and tracking of athletes, accuracy of results, enhanced spectator
viewing, developing performance and preventing injuries, amongst many more
functions (Busch, 1998). Technology in sports is a technical means by which
athletes attempt to improve their training and competitive surroundings in order to
enhance their overall athletic performance. It is thought of as a technical means or
instrument utilized to pursue chosen ends. Hence, the paper investigates the
impact of technology on sport performance.

2. Theories of Technology and Performance

Theories of Technology
One of the leading philosophers of technology (Feenberg, 1999,2003) outlined
theoretical positions regarding technology. In essence, like lenses through which
we can see the impact of technology. Depending on which lens it is look through,
technological advancements may appear very positive or frighteningly negative.
Heidegger (1998) noted that more fundamental criticisms of technology as
ideology where technology, far from being the hand-maiden of man, comes full
circle to be its master, where technology is sometimes seen to dominate its users
by creating dependency and distorting human relations. Thus, the theories include:
instrumentalist, determinist, substantivist, critical and dynamics.
3. Determinist Theory
Technological determinists view technology as an autonomous force, beyond
direct human control, and see technology as the prime cause of social change
(Chandler, 1995). Determinists view the expansion of technology as
discontinuous. That is, they see technological growth not as a gradual,
evolutionary process, but as a series of revolutionary leaps forward (Kumar,
2001). Among the most widely-cited deterministic works is Alvin Toffler's (1971)
book Future Shock. He concisely outlines the determinist's philosophy, after citing
several examples of accelerated economic growth, he writes "behind such
prodigious economic facts lies that great, growling engine of change technology"
(p. 25). While acknowledging that technology is not the only force in social
change, he adds, "technology is indisputably a major force behind this
accelerative thrust" (p. 25) and "by now the accelerative thrust triggered by man
has become the key to the entire evolutionary process of the planet" (p. 485)
Technological determinists, united in their belief that technology is an
autonomous and revolutionary force, often differ in their opinion of the morality
of technology. Determinists commonly have either a radically utopian or radically
dystopian opinion on technology (Kaplan, 1996). Utopian determinists believe
that technology is a positive and uplifting force that will, over time, mitigate or
eliminate most of the ills that afflict humanity. They believe technology is leading
society towards an ever more utopian existence. Conclusively, this techno-
utopianism assumes the neutrality of technological innovation and its
endorsement of a technologically determinist view of history (Robins & Webster,
1999). Dystopian determinists believe that technology is an inherently evil, or
dehumanizing, force that will lead, inevitably, to the moral, intellectual, or
physical destruction of humankind

4. Substantivist Theory
Despite the common sense appeal of instrumental theory, a minority view denies
the neutrality of technology. Substantive theory, best known through the writings
of (Ellul, 1964) and Heidegger (1998), argues that technology constitutes a new
type of cultural system that restructures the entire social world as an object of
control. This system is characterized by an expansive dynamic which ultimately
overtakes every pre-technological enclave and shapes the whole of social life.
Another theoretical position is called the substantivist theory, and this involves the
view that technology is neither neutral nor completely within our control.
Substantive theory claims that what the very employment of technology does to
humanity and nature is more consequential than its ostensible goals. This view is
the most pessimistic in terms of how it would regard the new tennis racket
(Tenner, 1996). New rackets would be viewed as having certain values attached.
For instance, while the racket designers may have simply been trying to build a
better, lighter racket that allows players to hit the ball harder and faster, the
consequences of this new design Proceedings of INCEDI 2016 Conference 29th-
31st August 2016, Accra, Ghana 899 ISBN: 978-9988-2-3994-7 seem to value
speed and power over finesse. The substantivist position also shares the
determinist view that, once unleashed, technologies have the potential to gain a
direction of their own, and it will become increasingly difficult to go back to more
“natural” forms of performance enhancing techniques. In the end, technology will
drive what sports we play, how we play them, and who is best suited to participate

5. Self –Technologies
Under this view, technology is ethically neutral. It is neither good nor bad in
itself. Rather, what matters is the end or purpose to which the technology is
merely the means. While equipment such as a prosthesis or a wheelchair are
fundamental for some persons with a disability to carry out their daily living
(Haisma et al., 2006; Pasquina et al., 2006), advances in this technology, such as
an energy storing prosthetic foot, make a lower limb amputee’s gait faster and
more efficient (Brodtkorb et al., 2008).

Daftar Pustaka

Brodtkorb, T. H., Henriksson, M., Johannesen-Munk, K., & Thidell, F. (2008). Cost-
Effectiveness of C-Leg Compared With Non-Microprocessor-Controlled Knees: A
Modeling Approach. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 89(1), 24–
30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2007.07.049
Busch, A. (Ed.). (1998). Design for sports: the cult of performance. Princeton
Architectural Press.

Cave, A., & Miller, A. (2015). Technology in sport: the speed of science. The Telegraph.

Chandler, D. (1995). Technological or Media Determinism.[Online] Available at:

http://www. aber. ac. uk/media. Documents/tecdet/tecdet. html (Accessed February
2013).

Ellul, J. (1964). The technological society. Ulster Medical Journal, 90(1), 1–2.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3101837

Feenberg, A. (1993). Questioning technology. Questioning Technology, 1–243.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203022313

Haisma, J. A., Van Der Woude, L. H. V., Stam, H. J., Bergen, M. P., Sluis, T. A. R., &
Bussmann, J. B. J. (2006). Physical capacity in wheelchair-dependent persons with a
spinal cord injury: A critical review of the literature. Spinal Cord, 44(11), 642–652.
https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.sc.3101915

Miah, A. (2004). Genetically modified athletes: Biomedical ethics, gene doping and
sport. Routledge Pasquina, P. F., Bryant, P. R., Huang, M. E., Roberts, T. L.,

Nelson, V. S., & Flood, K. M. (2006). Advances in amputee care. Archives of Physical
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Robins, K., & Webster, F. (1999). Times of Technoculture. In Cultural Studies.