In the second half of Postman's book, he continues to analyze the pros and cons (mostly cons) of our ever evolving technology dependent world. One of the things that stood out most to me in terms of Postman's work was his idea that "technological innovation is synonymous with human progress" (117). He argues that there are differences between problems in the technological world and the real world, stating that a real world problem deals with moral issues. Since computers cannot feel emotion one must wonder if this statement is true. However I agree that technological innovation, while is not the only marker of human progress, is certainly a good indicator of how our society is evolving. For example, how can we say that human's have not progressed because of technology? Technology enables human's to communicate in faster and more efficient ways than ever before and because of that we can debate moral issues more readily. In addition to that, technology has increased our standard of living, and has exposed us to an entire new realm of possibilities. As Postman states in the first half of his book we may eventually forget how to live without computers. This certainly seems like a feasible situation, however if suddenly all the screwdrivers in the world were gone would life go on? Of course screwdrivers, and technology offer huge benefits to society, and they can be seen everywhere. Every building has a screw in it and similarly the internet is everywhere now as well. However, if a large scale screwdriver thief came and made screwdrivers extinct could life go on? Of course!
The point I'm trying to make with the screwdrivers is that just because society is dependent and relies heavily on using something in everyday life does not mean it dictates the only way to do things. If computers disappeared we would certainly find a way to have life go on. Postman clearly is trying to reach a certain audience (those totally immersed in technological culture) and I believe that he takes his message a little too far. It feels biased to me and for the majority of the book (almost all of it except for the very end) I felt as if Postman was totally against the role technology plays in our world.
Neil Postman essentially writes his book in an attempt to help America realize what culture it is missing out on by being so consumed by the technological culture. And to a degree he is right. Literature such as newspapers, magazines, and even television used to play an integral part of people's lives. Their role is diminishing and in many cases technology and computers are replacing many other similar items. Postman wants the reader to understand that while the computer and internet can be largely beneficial to our society, we, like Thamus, have much to lose and unless we try to preserve that culture, it will be lost like junk e-mail in a spam folder.
P.S. After our class discussion last Monday I thought a lot about algorithms and the role they play in everyday online activity. I began noticing them all over the place! The side of facebook, the homepage of eBay, and countless other sites have told me "you may like this...". I never realized that a computer program and an equation were responsible for this and it blows my mind that a computer can be the best salesman at an online company.
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