Simply put, technological determinism is the belief that technology progresses somewhat independently, whilst influencing society and culture. ![[Pasted image 20250921091919.png]] It can be characterised as a kind of inevitability (or [[Convergence|convergence]]) of the technologies that will develop, and the effects that it would have on the world. In this view, the development of certain types of technologies are seen as an inevitability. For example, the world wide web and its use for sharing information could be seen as an inevitable outcome. Though there are variances, with two main branches of: * **Hard determinism,** society has little to no control over the direction or impact of technological change. * **Soft determinism,** still views technology as the primary driver of change, but we have a chance to make decisions to impact the outcomes. Some argue that even the softer accounts attribute causal power to technology in a way that is inappropriate. On the other side is the [[Social construction of technology|social construction of technology]], where society and culture are seen as the primary drivers of technological innovation and change. ## Educational technology research [[@oliverTechnologicalDeterminismEducational2011|Oliver (2011)]] discusses how educational technology research may view things as being technologically deterministic, and hence overstating the influence of the technology itself. He puts forward alternate positions of the theoretical perspectives of [[Activity theory|activity theory]], [[Communities of practice|communities of practice]], [[Actor-network theory|actor network theory]] and [[Social construction of technology|social construction of technology]], as ways of guiding educational technology research. For example, rather than asking what is the effect of technology X, we can investigate how the technology mediates the activity of the student and teacher in a classroom. ## Appropriation of technological invention > 'We have to acknowledge that, typically, education does not drive technological invention. Instead we appropriate the useful inventions of the business and leisure industries.' [[@laurillardTeachingDesignScience2013|(Laurillard, 2013)]] Educational technology sits in a strange place with respect to technological determinism, given that we largely do not create advanced technologies to meet specific educational needs.