The characteristic activity of technology involves the creation and use of
Organersatzes, that is, substitutes for or supersedings of those organs with which humans are endowed by nature. "There are two aspects to this tendency: artificial materials replacing those organically produced; and non-organic energy replacing organic energy" (Gehlen 1980, p. 5). The earliest humans strengthened their hands with wood and stone instruments, then replaced old materials in these instruments with new ones that defined entire ages (the Bronze Age, Iron Age, etc.), a substitution process that has continued into synthetic chemistry. But of even greater significance has been the replacement of human and animal power with coal, oil, electricity, and nuclear power.
Because of this substitution process technology develops a tendency to deny its roots and become independent. The technological world becomes progressively abstract and not tied to any immediate need. This is the starting point for Gehlen's criticism of modern technology as it has developed especially since the Industrial Revolution. According to Gehlen, technology develops an opposition to its previous cultural contexts and tends to become something pursued for its own sake. Coherent social orders decline under a flood of external stimuli, and social institutions lose their stability.
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