Exploring Electrical Technology (IDST 300)

1. Exploring Electrical Technology(IDST 300) Technology Perspectives: Anti-technology Position

2. Anti-technology Advocates • Ask “What’s wrong with Technology?” • Includes leading scholars • Jacques Ellul (1912-1994, authored > 40 books) • The Technological Society (1954) • The Technological System (1980) • Neil Postman (1931-2003, authored 18 books, > 200 articles) • Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) • Informing Ourselves to Death (1990) • Argued role of computer in propagating info. today should be considered more critically for its impact on society

3. Anti-technology Position • Technology is out of control! • Because. . .

4. Anti-technology Position: Technology is. . . • Insatiable: breeds desire that cannot be satisfied • Email & IM do more than facilitate comm., they beg people to send more & shorter messages • Large screen, high-resolution TVs entice people to watch more shows longer than otherwise • Microwave ovens encourage people to cook more food quickly with less preparation • Computers suggest a need to save more data, copy more files, connect to the web at the highest rate, calculate at Gb/sec and replace the old model soon

5. Anti-technology Position: Technology. . . • Benefits the wealthy and elite at the expense of the poor and powerless • As evidenced by the Digital Divide, a gap that continues to grow between generations, economic statuses, geographic locations, etc. • Tends to shut out those not in the “know” about it—companies willing to teach only enough to make a sale & create dependence • Given the great advances available today, why hasn’t poverty and disease been eliminated?

6. Anti-technology Position: Technology is. . . • Often politically motivated by • Accumulating more capital and its associated power prevails as the prime motive for investing in a new technology on individual, corporate and national levels • Catering to the constituents of a district (e.g., by advancing new technologies) without accounting for real individual needs

7. Anti-technology Position: Technology. . . • Deals with the “material” world • Electronics & robotics equipment replace human labor & personal touch on assembly lines in factories, making manufacturing less inefficient, yet more impersonal • Phone receptionists have been replaced not only by recorded messages, but automated, voice-activated, speech-synthesized, menu-driven systems (e-people!)

8. Anti-technology Position: Technology. . . • Always “mediates” reality • Puts more distance between people and. . . • Other people • Nature • A thermostat controlled environment insulates people from outside weather and elements • TVs, computer & virtual reality games simulate the world and natural laws so as to distort a proper sense of perception

9. Anti-technology Position: Technology. . . • Creates dependence as evidenced by frustration when • The power goes out at a bad time • A battery goes dead, unexpectedly • A computer loses files, or can’t print • People have to revert to older technology

10. Anti-technology Position: Technology. . . • Dictates its own use • Widespread possession of cars (esp. in US) precludes use of more mass transportation • Extensive use of email, IM & mobile phones decreases face-to-face communication • Handheld computer games encourage more solitary and/or sedentary entertainment

11. Anti-technology Position: Technology is. . . • Indiscriminate: it doesn’t determine who uses it • Despots, criminals and terrorists doe more evil than good • Even good people can’t avoid its lure

12. Summary: for the Anti-technologist • “The bad outweighs the good.” • “The best we can do is learn to cope with it.” • As a clincher, “Technology replaces God.” • By replacing the wonder & marvel of creation • By tempting us to be more “God-like” than is good for us