What is Dystopian Philosophy

Technology plays a critical role in modern society. Everyone is touched by the power of technology in some way, large or small, good or bad, every day (MacKenzie & Wajcman, 1999). While few people would argue the importance of technology in our society, there is a great deal of debate about whether technology has had a profound impact in the fields of education and training. That debate is made even more confused by the great difficulty in separating the effects of any technology from the societal, political, technical, and economic contexts in which the technology is developed and used (Pool, 1997; Tiles & Oberdiek, 1995). Another key issue confusing the debate is the problem of fairly and accurately assessing the impact of technology, especially in educational settings. On a more philosophical level, there is debate about the very nature of technology, the extent to which technology is under human control, and, ultimately, whether technology has a positive or negative impact on human society.