Scribd
Upload
12 views1 page

Generativity in Technology Explained

Generativity refers to technologies that enable novel creations. The PC and Internet are canonical examples as they allow for unanticipated contributions. Zittrain applied this term to technologies whose openness leads to change through diverse audiences. However, features for security/stability can reduce generativity. Actions moving to one-way "smart" devices cause decline in generativity, so generativity itself must be treated as the key value rather than means to support it like "open internet". Zittrain argued that focusing only on network policy risks making endpoints like PCs fixed and closed, compromising overall generativity.

Uploaded by

clumsy16
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
12 views1 page

Generativity in Technology Explained

Generativity refers to technologies that enable novel creations. The PC and Internet are canonical examples as they allow for unanticipated contributions. Zittrain applied this term to technologies whose openness leads to change through diverse audiences. However, features for security/stability can reduce generativity. Actions moving to one-way "smart" devices cause decline in generativity, so generativity itself must be treated as the key value rather than means to support it like "open internet". Zittrain argued that focusing only on network policy risks making endpoints like PCs fixed and closed, compromising overall generativity.

Uploaded by

clumsy16
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Use in Technology[edit]

Generativity in technology refers to cases where a technology supports the creation of novel
products. Such technologies are referred to as generative systems. Canonical examples are the PC
and the Internet.[2] From its inception, the Internet has acted as a generative force allowing users to
create and communicate in ways unimagined but foreseen by its creators who for this purpose built-
in an openness and hardware and software agnosticism. [8]
Zittrain was first to apply this term outside psychology, in cases where a generative technology leads
to "unanticipated change through unfiltered contributions from broad and varied audiences." [9] Zittrain
has also highlighted that precarious nature of generative technology: arguing that features which, for
instance, may enhance security and stability may, even unintentionally reduce or destroy a
generativity in a system. He highlighted cases in which apparently innocuous producer, consumer,
and government actions from a move away from PCs to one-way systems such as "smart"
appliances cause a decline in generativity.[2] As a result, he emphasised the need to be clear about
treating generativity, rather than apparent means supporting this as the key valued characteristic of
the system. In the case of the internet/PC complex this is its capacity as a generative networked
grid, rather than traits associated with this, such as "open internet" or “network neutrality”. He termed
a focus on these mere-means to the end of generativity a "myopic" "end-to-end theory" which
confused means with ends. Zittrain argued:
focusing on “network” without regard to a particular network policy’s influence on the design of
network endpoints such as PCs. As a result of this focus, political advocates of end-to-end are too
often myopic; many writers seem to presume current PC and OS architecture to be fixed in an
“open” position. If they can be persuaded to see a larger picture, they may agree to some
compromises at the network level. If complete fidelity to end-to-end network neutrality persists, our
PCs may be replaced by information appliances or may undergo a transformation from open
platforms to gated communities to prisons, creating a consumer information environment that
betrays the very principles that animate end-to-end theory. ([2] p. 1978)

You might also like