The Question Concerning Technology

A lecture Heidegger gave in Munich in 1953, developed from his Bremen lectures of 1949 and published in 1954. It asks what the essence of technology is, and answers that the essence of technology is nothing technological. The usual definition, technology as a human means to an end, is correct but not yet true. Going back to the four causes and to the Greek idea of bringing-forth (poiēsis), Heidegger argues that technology is a way of revealing. Modern technology reveals by challenging nature to supply energy that can be extracted, stored and ordered: a power plant set into the Rhine turns the river into a supplier of water pressure. Everything becomes standing-reserve (Bestand), resources on call, and the framework that orders it all is enframing (Gestell). The danger is that humans come to see themselves only as resources. Quoting Hölderlin, Heidegger suggests that where danger is, a saving power grows too, and points to art as a place for reflection.

It is one of the most cited philosophical essays on technology, and its idea that we treat the world, and ourselves, as resources on call is a useful lens on data, energy and automation.