Synesis: A Journal of Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy 2013 © 2010-2013 Potomac Institute Press, All rights reserved T:55 Introduction It goes without saying that the change we experience today, which is fuelled by a series of new technologies, differs from other profound changes that have deined our culture in the past. The current change affects our everyday lives, but the new tools it offers us can be seen as an extension of our senses, of our various modes of communication and, to a certain extent, of our brains (since the question about whether one regards machines as extensions of living organisms or living organisms as complex machines seems to be a topic of exploration as well). Nowadays, the proliferation of the ields of knowl- edge, the often vague distinction between art, technology and science, and the “immaterial” form of the new tech- nologies compel us to widen the ield of our traditional research disciplines, and most crucially the ield of ethics. The debate around the morality of technology has given rise to special moral categories – regarding for example the issues of responsibility, safety and risk – which had not been as important in premodern moral philosophy. The starting point of this paper is the fact that what is at stake for the future of our own society includes, in its core, aspects of technology – seen as a whole and not ad hoc. We refer to technology as speciic practices, artefacts and decision making processes and not as an intangible and abstract ield that proceeds autonomously, deterministi- cally and independently of the wider social context (1-4). In this light, we suggest that technology can only mean Technology and Contemporary Human Condition: Cultural Expansion and Technological Intervention through Politics? Charalampos D. Kokkinos 1 1. Department of Humanities, Hellenic Open University. Email: chared@central.ntua.gr. Abstract In our everyday lives, we come into contact with a series of technological objects and we employ technology in a number of ways. Usually, the “relation” we develop with these objects works, on a irst level, for our beneit. On the other hand, we actually know little about the technologies we use in order to accomplish various activities. Technologies have neither been developed, nor do they exist independently, even though we tend to perceive them as natural objects in themselves. Per- haps they are as much deined by causal laws, which are relevant to their “behavior” as speciic artefacts, as they obtain ad hoc characteristics through our signiications, which already belong to a speciic social system. This ignorance of common sense often leads to the exclusion of a number of topics that are intertwined with the technological phenomenon from the everyday agenda of po- litical debate. Moreover, the errors that stem from our unsophisticated or even unconscious attitude towards these artefacts have important consequences on various areas, including “development” and “work”, education, the environment, and human communication itself. This paper will try to present elements of a critical theory of technology in order to illustrate the need to link the techno- logical phenomenon with everyday political practice. Keywords: technical rationality, mediation, critical theory, culture, politics