When reading various scholars attempts to engage with the difficult subject of technological determinism, I’ve collected the following analytical variables with which they contend. I’ve also attempted to integrate them into a metaphor of a man trying to move a large stone.

Momentum

The rock is rolling north Intent

The rock will be used in a wall Contingency

The rock will get stuck in a groove Lifecycle

The rock was placed there by a glacier, is now being rolled, and … Dimensions

The rock flattens the grass, erodes the soil, leaves a hole but contributes to a wall Directness

The rock tends to the left Agency

The person is a serf without much choice