ABSTRACT
The chapter explains how technical artefacts can be inserted in this picture of human capabilities. It explains the different assessments of the effect of socio-technical networks on individual freedom. The chapter makes clear to engineers and technologists how important that attention be paid not just to the details of design of technical artefacts, but also to their socio-technical embedding. Kullman and Lee refer to a number of empirical studies on the implementation of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) laptops in different countries which indicate that the conversion of the technical artefact into valuable capabilities does depend on the nature and quality of the socio-technical embedding. Ontological individualism states that only individuals and their properties can be identified by reducing them to individuals and their properties. The aim of this chapter has been to challenge simplistic views about technology as a neutral instrument that merely expands valuable human capabilities without imposing a specific sort of life on anyone.
