Technique vs. Technology

Nearly every conversation about artificial intelligence mistakes the technology for the phenomenon. Debates about specific models, particular applications, and immediate effects operate at the level of objects in the world. Ellul's question operates at a different altitude. He asks what logic produced these objects, demanded their creation, ensured their adoption, and will reshape every domain they enter according to imperatives no individual chose. Technology is a hammer. Technique is the logic that demanded the hammer, standardized it, mass-produced it, and will replace it with the next more efficient striking mechanism. The distinction matters because technology can be catalogued and regulated, while technique — being a logic rather than an artifact — operates beneath the level at which catalogues and regulations apply.