Martin Heidegger’s essay “The Question Concerning Technology” delves into humans’ relationship with technology. He states that humans remain “unfree and chained to technology.” He wants to obtain a clearer understanding of the many meanings and purposes of technology so that humans can come up with ways to be more considerate with the world.

Of course, Heidegger is a philosopher. He’s not a scientist or an engineer. He doesn’t work in any tech-related field. You might wonder why Heidegger feels like he can speak about this topic. For Heidegger, technology has little to do with actual technology and more to do “human activity.”

Yes, technology involves many complex parts, skills, and knowledge. Yet the foundation—or what Heidegger calls the “essence”—of technology is humanity’s preoccupation with mastery and its urge to accumulate precise, measurable knowledge.

For Heidegger, humans see the world as a “standing-reserve.” That is to say, people tend to view the world as a stockpile of resources available for exploitation. Heidegger describes this mindset as “challenging.” Current technology bothers, disrupts, imperils, and, yes, “challenges” the resources of the world.

To illustrate a more benign form of technology, Heidegger cites the windmill. The windmill does not challenge the wind. It doesn’t try to take it and store it for future use. The windmill doesn’t dominate the wind. It’s the other way around. The windmill’s sails, writes Heidegger, “are left entirely to the wind’s blowing.”

In the essay, you might have come across the term “Gestell.” This word means something like “enframing.” For Heidegger, humans should try and change the way in which they frame technology. Near the end of his essay, he advocates a frame of mind that departs from constant extraction and goes toward what he calls a “saving power.” Instead of plundering and challenging nature with ever-developing technology, humans should care for it, watch over it, and try to preserve the world and its resources.