Authoritarian technologies require authoritarian structures in society. They increase inequality and domination. Democratic technologies force democratic structures on a society.

Authoritarian technologies are technologies that function best under authoritarian control, while democratic technologies allow better in decentralized, participatory systems (bottom up).

Authoritarian technologies are produced by authoritarian countries (e.g. for surveillance), while democratic technologies are produced by democratic countries (e.g. for information).

Authoritarian technologies tell users what to do. Democratic technologies allow them to do what they want.

Technologies can be developed and implemented in very different ways. However, their social impact is neutral and does not affect the distribution of power in society. Advantages (e.g. power) will be the same from the use of this technology.

Technologies often are introduced in opposition to the interest of the people using the technology. This is why power and authority are necessary for their success.

Technology is often produced and created based on the values of powerful actors. These values can shape how technologies influence authority and power in society.

Technology increases the power of people who use the technology. As a consequence, technology gives power to all societal groups, who can use a certain technology.

New technologies increase the abilities of people. For example, bikes, cares, and planes enable people to cover larger distances. This allows them to experience and interpret the world in new and flexible ways.

Interpretative flexibility is a necessary feature of technology and refers to the different ways in which social groups interpret a technology.

The same technology can be interpreted in different way, but interpretative flexibility is reduced once the best technical design is identified.

Technologies can be more or less interpretative flexible. More flexible technologies can be used in more contexts and can be adapted to local requirements. This increases the chance of their success.

Different social groups attach different meaning to the same technology. The development of a technology depends on which technical solution is objectively the best.

Every society has specific norms and values defining what technology is allowed to do and what not (e.g. safety).

Ideas of construction and design are always social. In different times, different social groups have shaped how technologies are constructed and interpreted.

Technologies are constructed by many different people. Pinch and Bijker use the example of the bicycle. They show, that many different groups of people are necessary to develop and construct a bike.

It functions mainly as a peer-pressure tactic, encouraging people to purchase Kodak cameras to maintain social status and avoid feeling left out during holidays.

It promoted Kodak's roll-film camera as technically superior to previous models by emphasizing portability and image quality, appealing to consumers seeking innovations.

It resonated with professional photographers who were already using advanced equipment and appreciated Kodak's technical innovations for studio or field work.

It effectively embedded photography into everyday cultural routines by tying the act of taking photos to meaningful experiences like family holidays, making the technology feel indispensable.

Kodak used her image to highlight complex technical features in its advertising, appealing to experts and photography professionals.

She was based on a real professional photographer whose technical expertise helped design Kodak's cameras and influences how they were advertised.

She represented and encouraged the creation of a new kind of social actor: the casual, female amateur photographer, helping to normalize photography as an everyday and gender-inclusive activity.

The Kodak Girl was a state-approved mascot, features in official government campaigns that promoted photography for educational and public service purposes.

Bricolage is primarily driven by companies seeking to monopolize markets by building on existing patents and intensifying competition.

Bricolage illustrates how innovation can emerge from situated, practical knowledge and local experimentation which is able to outperform large, centralized innovation programs.

Breakthrough strategies always outperform bricolage approaches because they receive consistent support from centralized state funding.

Breakthrough innovation is a purely technical process that occurs in isolation from social dynamics, collaboration, or historical context.

It refers to the idea that innovation is mainly governed by natural and technical laws that evolve independently on society and culture.

It shows that once a technology is patented, no further social or economic factors can influence its development.

It means that the decisions of individual inventors determine the direction and success of innovation.

It highlights how earlier social and institutional choices constrain future options, even if better alternatives exist.

National AI strategies are not just symbolic narrative - they actively shape political decisions, funding structures, and institutional developments related to AI.

National AI strategies rely heavily on AI-based tools to perform governmental tasks and improve efficiency in politics.

National AI strategies are future scenarios developed by politicians to perform potential risks of AI in public debates.

National AI strategies are political performances meant to attract media attention and boost the popularity of the government.

A collectively held vision of the future in which scientific and technological advances are linked to the imagined social good, shaping how societies develop and govern technology.

A plan created by engineers and scientists to imagine the technical specifications of future technologies.

An individual's personal expectations of how technology will influence their life in the future.

A narrative about how future technologies might work, often found in science fiction and speculative design.