Techne

Seeking Purposes

For Aristotle, techné or tekhne, which can also be translated as art, technique, craft, or skill, is the exercise of knowledge and human action through which a reality is generated that did not previously exist. But it is not just any new reality; rather, it is a new desired reality, a transformation of reality that responds to a purpose.

From the technique applied to the most abstract artistic expression to the most advanced engineering, there is always the underlying engine of an intention, a purpose.

Technology is often defined as the set of technical knowledge that allows the design and creation of procedures and artifacts with the purpose of satisfying people’s needs and desires.

An artifact is a work made with art, meaning with technique, with some purpose, which is generally to properly fulfill a useful function.

Our Vision of Technology

Technology
Technology consists of the intelligent and intentional arrangement of matter and energy by thinking beings, in the pursuit of satisfying their needs and achieving their desires and purposes. Technology is not only a means of survival for human beings but also a key element in their search for happiness and fulfillment.

From Resources to Produced Wealth

There are many discussions around the meaning of the word wealth, but it is generally accepted that it refers to the abundance of valuable goods, things, or resources.

A good or resource is valuable to a person to the extent that it is available to that person, meaning that they can effectively take advantage of it. Techné for us is the human activity that performs the magic of transforming resources into true wealth. We understand that natural resources are not really wealth until they are available in the right form, time, and place where they are needed for use and benefit.

A fish swimming in the sea, loaded with valuable nutrients, does not constitute wealth until it is caught, cleaned, transformed, or preserved until the moment and transported to the place where people need food.

The transformations that lead from the natural reality of the resource to the reality of wealth, which is the resource transformed to the right form, time, and place, are techné.

Thus, in summary, wealth reveals itself for what it truly is: a desired reality that is realized in practice, that did not exist before being realized by human technique from natural resources, always driven by purposes, that is, interests.

Taking a Stand, Enthusiastic and Focused

For these reasons, we hold a strong enthusiastic and favorable position towards technologies like Artificial Intelligence, and particularly in our specialty, which is the Internet of Things (IoT). We reject Luddite or apocalyptic views and fully adhere to the techno-optimist manifesto by Marc Andreessen.

Freedom, an Essential Factor:

Wealth is a product of technology; technology is a product of human intelligence, and human intelligence is only productive when it enjoys the freedom to create and enjoy the fruits and benefits of its creations.

In the words of Ayn Rand:

Just as effects cannot exist without causes, wealth cannot exist without its source: intelligence. But intelligence cannot be forced to work; those who are capable of thinking will not work under compulsion, and those who do will not produce much more than the value of the whip needed to keep them in slavery. You cannot get the products of a mind, except on the terms of the owner of that mind.

Techné and Freedom.

Thus, our vision and approach.