LESSON 2:

Technology as a
Way of Revealing
“Technology is a way of revealing. If we give heed to this, then
another whole realm for the essence of technology will open
itself up to us. It is the realm of revealing, i.e., of truth.”
—Martin Heidegger
• Heidegger points out, technological objects are means for ends, and are built
and operated by human beings, but the essence of technology is something
else entirely. Just as the essence of a tree is not itself a tree, Heidegger points
out, so the essence of technology is not anything technological.
 The Human Condition Before Common Era
• The Olmecs, a very well-unified
society that was somehow able to
transport three-ton slabs of stone in
a pyramid shape with the use of
their own invention and a hydraulic
system of canals.
• The Persians, they had many jewels
and furs that they wore and even a
plumbing system of sorts.
• Greece was a bit scattered, but they had
many sports, exceptional military tactics,
and many mathematicians and philosophers
who discovered things like volume, spheres,
and cell theory.
• The Arabic numeral system (numbers), the
concept of zero, democracy, and
centralization were also implemented.
 The Human Condition in the Common Era

• We had domesticated many animals and plants, had decent gender equality
(nearer to the beginning), and religions were just starting to transfer from
nature spirits to actual gods and deities.
 The essence of Technology
• Through Martin Heidegger’s ‘The Question concerning Technology’ he
explains that the ESSENCE of something is not present in the thing
itself. A computer to us is technology but in fact it is only one part of
technology and is in a way just a result of technology. Because without
previous technology a computer would never have been invented.
• According to Heidegger, throughout history there have
been many answers to what technology is, some saying it
is a human activity or a means to an end but although
Heidegger agrees that both statements are correct he
also says that they are not true. This is the way we
perceive technology and what we believe and want it to
be but it is not what technology itself is.
• For Heidegger he believes in the essence of technology is not
just what we call technology such as a computer or anything
that can be ‘categorized’ as technology even in its earliest
forms. It is more like an idea that people can feed from and
have other ideas from but something that no one can
really think of. It is a chance for us as human to think a new
way and join with technology not just to understand it but to
question it and see it as ever changing and expanding,
understanding that we can never stand still with technology,
that we have to move with it.
Backtracking the Human Condition