1. The Critical Engineer considers any technology depended upon to be both a challenge and a threat. The greater the dependence on a technology the greater the need to study and expose its inner workings, regardless of ownership or legal provision.
As we become more and more dependent on a single set of technologies, the authors of the manifesto see it as very important that we explore how the technologies are made and make clear how they work. Perhaps the most pertinent technology in the present is the internet; it has become so engrained in almost every part of our lives and very few people know how it really works. The same principle can be applied to applications of the internet, such as social media sites. These are particularly difficult in that they are closed source, so finding a way to examine them becomes more of a challenge, but this does not stop the Critical Engineer. When social platforms become such a huge part of people's lives, it seems important to really understand the mechanics of the system in an effort to better understand why they can so easily capture and maintain their hold on a user.