European identity, technology and society. The case for space

Abstract

Science and technology are clearly areas that have contributed to the notion of Europe as they are integral parts of its cultural heritage. The question is whether European culture was determined by technology development or not. The immediate answer is “no”, because we generally cannot state a strong causal relation between technological and social development by simply assuming a social shaping role of technology. On the other hand, this relation cannot be reduced to a mere co-incidence of technology and society without any mutual constraints. The truth lies in between in terms of a weak coherence of both with respect to a conditional relation between technology and society. Technology is clearly — but not exclusively — a cultural practice and as such it might push societal development among other non-technological practices. On the other hand, technology is governed by society in nearly every phase of its development and diffusion, e.g., by funding research and specific projects or by regulating certain applications. The resulting co-evolution of society and technology means that European culture and identity cannot be simply shaped by ambitious technology development — but may gain from corresponding incentives, when development conditions for technology and society are integrated appropriately.