The inquiry "Technology is social before it is technical" may suggest that technology exists independently of social relations and values - that it develops primarily through engineering logic. I strongly disagree with this view. Technology is never autonomous; it is always embedded in the social conditions that produce it.
Technology is created by people, and people are not neutral. We design, develop, and deploy technologies shaped by emotions, incentives, power structures, cultural assumptions, and needs. Technical progress rarely emerges from curiosity alone. It is almost always a response to specific social pressures - economic demands, political agendas, environmental crises, or cultural aspirations. The very existence of a technology already tells us something about what a society values, what problems it prioritizes, and who holds power.
With identical technical capabilities, vastly different technologies can be produced depending on social intent. A system developed for efficiency may just as easily be designed for surveillance. It could also be oriented toward accessibility, care, or collective benefit. The outcome is never predetermined by the technology itself, but by the social framework within which it is conceived. Moreover, no matter how advanced a technology is, it can fail to be adopted if it conflicts with social norms, ethics, or lived realities. In this sense, technology only truly becomes technology when it aligns - at least partially - with societal structures and values.
Even when technologies appear objective, such as algorithms or data-driven systems, they remain socially constructed. Data is not neutral; it reflects who collects it, for what purpose, and which realities are made visible or invisible. Finally, the capacity to develop impactful technologies is concentrated among institutions and individuals with economic and political power. This concentration can reinforce existing inequalities rather than resolve them.
For these reasons, I believe technology is social before it is technical - and this reality places responsibility on those who design, deploy, and use it to act with awareness and agency.
Dorian Prattes, 2026