On Technological Bullshit

Abstract The concept of “bullshit” (Frankfurt H (1986) On Bullshit. Raritan.) is a well-established philosophical tool for criticizing speech that lacks a serious relationship to truth conditions or evidence. While the concept has been employed primarily to evaluate discourse, we argue in this paper that bullshit is also relevant to the assessment of technology. We introduce the concept of technological bullshit as a means of critically reflecting on artifacts and their societal construction. As a case in point for the analysis of technological bullshit, we focus on a two-wheeler that has caused some recent controversy in the field of urban mobility: the fatbike. We illustrate the identification and analysis of technological bullshit by offering a case study on the pragmatics of fatbikes, i.e., how they are made, used, and talked about. Based on this, and some additional examples, we finally characterize different forms of technological bullshit and conclude with a note on how technological bullshit can be used as a form of critique.