Technology as a heterogeneous assemblage
One of the most famous philosophers to write about technology, Martin Heidegger (1977), argued that it is both a ‘means to an end’ and a ‘human activity’. These combined definitions suggest that technology is something that humans utilise in order to achieve particular goals. Heidegger (1977) emphasised that human use of technology entailed mastery and that mastery was particularly important in order to avoid humans losing control of it.
Heidegger’s position has been adopted by several authors writing on sport and technology. For example, Van Hilvoorde, Vos and de Wert (2007) echoed this position when describing technology in sport, arguing that technology is part of the artificiality that defines sport, including ‘mastery of technological equipment or the body [in order] to achieve the particular goals of a specific contest’.
Similarly, Loland (2002) claimed that the view of technology as ‘humanmade means to reach human interests and goals’ is the definition used most frequently within writings on technology in sport. Both these definitions acknowledge that in sport there are particular goals that must be met, and that technologies act as artificially created ways by which these goals can be realised.