In this article, the author examines the potential role of the computer in the democratization of technology, at both the social and epistemological level. He considers the wider context of Iannis Xenakis' highly personal and idiosyncratic approach towards using modern technology in music composition; in particular, the notion that the signifying function of the computer interface is not an a priori function, but can be conditioned by the particularity of the design activity in which it is used. The author argues that Xenakis' work exemplifies this notion, as while advocating music as a technological art, Xenakis sought to ground musical thinking in the particularity of his working process.