Blog #5- A Phenomenology of Technics

Again Ihde begins his chapter by expanding upon examples of technology, such as the lens/telescope/microscope, which were introduced earlier in the book. This chapter addresses the three possible "human-technology relations" as Ihde classifies them: Technics Embodied, Hermeneutic Technics, and Alterity Relations. Technology is embodied when it serves as an extension of the human body aiding a person in achieving some specified task. (blind man's cane or a person with a hearing aid) Technology alters an individual's perception of the world and it is through this bodily extension that a person experiences the contexts of the environment. The example of optical technologies is what Ihde uses to describe this relationship. Ihde claims that if someone is completely embodied within the technological context, he/she will no longer realize its existence and the piece of technology will "withdraw" from the situation. One of Ihde's main points, which he restates many times is the fact that only when there is a malfunction with the technology, is a person's complete dependence revealed to them. In the embodiment relationship the technology therefore is the median, (I-glasses)-world, where the human and technology are an inseparable unit. There are always requirements for a technology to be embodied. One example is that the lenses in a pair of glasses must be transparent enough so the vision upon the world is completely unaltered. Ihde also points out the contradiction in this relationship: humans crave the power received from using a technology, yet the desire to become completely embodied within them.
Hermeneutic literally means interpretation of the world with regards to human-technology relationships. Ihde believes that interpretation is most important in the written word. A comparison is drawn between a written page and a chart in which the symbols, in this case letters, carry a person beyond written word to different contexts. This is referred to as textual transparency. In this way language is a technology, because it alters reality's perception. Ihde describes the evolution of the alphabet from pictographic characters, and poses the question of wether speech was the predecessor of the written word or vice versa. Enigmas are misinterpretations, misuses, or malfunctions in the human-technology relationship. The first is (I-technology)-world in which the enigma occurs between the person and the piece of technology. I-(technology-world) and I-technology-(world) are the other two enigmas Ihde describes.
Lastly alterity relations are presented in this chapter of "Technology and the Lifeworld." Alterities refer to more positive relationships with technology than proposed in embodiment and hermeneutics. The word "alterity" is defined as, "The radical difference posed to any human by another human, an other." This approach refers to the idea that technology is completely separate than human beings. Technology can aid humans in certain processes but they can never completely replace actual physical human actions. The example of riding a horse is used in which a horse has"a life of its own within the environment that allowed this form of life," encompasses this idea of alterity. The bottom line in this human-technology relationship is than people will always feel as if they are interacting with something outside of themselves or other than them, regardless of perception or embodiment.