The Impact of Technology on Society The Origins of Man to Present Day

1. The Impact of Technology on SocietyThe Origins of Man to Present Day Dr. David Gibbs Department of Computing and New Media Technologies University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Stevens Point, WI 54481 David.Gibbs@uwsp.edu

2. Dr. David GibbsFulbright Fellow 2008University of Wisconsin-Stevens PointWisconsin, USA Dr. David Gibbs Department of Computing and New Media Technologies University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Stevens Point, WI 54481 David.Gibbs@uwsp.edu

3. Wisconsin, USA The Impact of Technology on Society

4. Stevens Point, Wisconsin The Impact of Technology on Society

5. Wisconsin Facts • Population: 5,648,124 (2007) (20th) • Land Area: 65,503 sq mi. (23rd) • Statehood: 1848 • First explored: 1634 (French, Jean Nicolet) • Main industries • Agriculture (milk, cheese, peas, potatoes, beans) • Industry (paper, machinery, autos) • Service (insurance, medical, higher education) • Over 14,000 lakes The Impact of Technology on Society

6. University of Wisconsin Stevens Point • Established 1894 • Enrollment 8600 combined grad/undergrad • Comprehensive programs • Largest major fields of study • Education • Natural Resources • Biology • Computing The Impact of Technology on Society

7. University of Wisconsin System 26 Campuses 2 Doctoral Institutions 11 Comprehensive 13 Two Year Universities approximately 160,000 students The Impact of Technology on Society

8. Wisconsin Technical College System 16 Districts Blackhawk Chippewa Valley Fox Valley Gateway Lakeshore Madison Area Mid-State Milwaukee Area Moraine Park Nicolet Area Northcentral Northeast Wisconsin Southwest Wisconsin Waukesha County Western Wisconsin Indianhead The Impact of Technology on Society

9. About Dr. Gibbs • Raised on a farm‏ in rural Wisconsin • Undergraduate degree in Mathematics, Physical Sciences • Master’s Degree in Computer Science • Ph.D. In Educational Technology • Teaching Experience • 2 years secondary school • 27 years university

10. My Family

11. Impact of Technology • Interaction of humans and their tools/technologies • Origins to present • Present to 2047 The Impact of Technology on Society

12. Influences • Neil Postman • Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1993) • Ray Kurzweil • The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (2005) • Life in America (1955 – 2008) • convenience, immediate gratification, pleasure seeking, the disappearance of childhood, stay young at all costs, quarterly stock earnings reports, maxim of efficiency The Impact of Technology on Society

13. Neil Postman • 1931-2003 • NYU Professor of Communications, media theorist, and cultural critic • 18 books, 200+ articles The Impact of Technology on Society

14. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology Author: Neil Postman Published in 1993 The Impact of Technology on Society

15. Postman’s Writings • Television and the Teaching of English (1961). • Linguistics: A Revolution in Teaching with Charles Weingartner (Dell Publishing, 1966). • Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969) with Charles Weingartner. • Teaching as a Conserving Activity (1979). • The Disappearance of Childhood (1982). • Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985). • Conscientious Objections: Stirring Up Trouble About Language, Technology and Education (1988). • Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992). • The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School (1995). • Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future (1999). The Impact of Technology on Society

16. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology “Technopoly” • Postman coined the term – in part because no term existed “Culture” • Patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. The Impact of Technology on Society

17. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology “Legend of Thamus” from Plato’s Phaedrus (a dialog between Socrates and Phaedrus) King Thamus entertaining Theuth, the inventor of numbers, calculation, geometry, astronomy, and writing. The Impact of Technology on Society

18. Theuth, to Thamus Theuth, the inventor, to the King, on his invention of writing: “Here is an accomplishment, my lord the king, which will improve both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians. I have discovered a sure receipt for memory and wisdom.” The Impact of Technology on Society

19. Thamus, to Theuth King Thamus, on Theuth’s writing: “Theuth, my paragon of inventors, the discoverer of an art is not the best judge of the good or harm which will accrue to those who practice it. So it is in this; you, who are the father of writing, have out of fondness for your off-spring attributed to it quite the opposite of its real function. Those who acquire it will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on writing to bring things to their remembrance by external signs instead of by their own internal resources.” The Impact of Technology on Society

20. What will be the impact of writing? King Thamus, on Theuth’s writing continued: “What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory. And as for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality: they will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction, and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant. And because they are filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom they will be a burden to society.” The Impact of Technology on Society

21. What are the lessons of Theuth & Thamos? • Cultures negotiate with technology; technology "giveth" and technology "taketh away.“ • It is a mistake to suppose that any technological innovation has a one-sided effect. Every technology is both a burden and a blessing at once. The Impact of Technology on Society

22. What are the lessons of Theuth & Thamos? • Technologies create new definitions of old terms, and this process takes place without our being fully conscious of it. (‘memory’, ‘wisdom’) • There will always be "winners" and "losers" as the result of a new technology. The Impact of Technology on Society

23. What are the lessons of Theuth & Thamos? • Technologies create “experts,” those with mastery. • Those who have control over the workings of a particular technology accumulate power. • There will always be "winners" and "losers" as the result of a new technology. • At the start of a technological journey, you can't simply conspire to be a winner. The Impact of Technology on Society

24. What are the lessons of Theuth & Thamos? • New technologies compete with old ones - for time, for attention, for money, for prestige, but mostly for dominance of their world-view. • Technological change is neither additive nor subtractive. It is ecological. The Impact of Technology on Society

25. Legend of Thamus • Thamus was right – but only half-right, as was Theuth • Writing is not just a burden – it is both – and at the same time – a burden and a blessing. The Impact of Technology on Society

26. Social Aspects of Technology Course • First written assignment • entitled “Benefits and Harms of Technology” • “technology” as broadly defined in the assignment • 6 technologies • 3 positive, or beneficial • 3 negative, or harmful • Oral presentation and defense of those technologies in class • Examples: cell phones, television, i-pods, nuclear power The Impact of Technology on Society

27. Technology is non-neutral ALL technologies bring blessings and burdens. CHALLENGE: find a technology that is either ALL good or ALL bad. REALIZATION: you can’t choose to use a technology only for good (or bad) MYTH: “It all depends upon how you use it…” The Impact of Technology on Society

28. With apologies to Clint Eastwood Regarding Technology, NOT the Good and Bad, BUT… The Good AND Bad, and the potentially Ugly* * The really ugly technologies will be presented in part II: The Impact of Technology on Society: Present Day to 2047 and Beyond.

29. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology A Taxonomy of Culture: a timeline describing the intersection of Tools/Technology and Culture • Tool-Using: rocks, fire, to 1770s • Technocracy: 1770s to 1910 • Technopoly: 1910 to “present” (i.e. 1993) The Impact of Technology on Society

30. The Taxonomy: stage 1 • A Tool-Using Culture (rocks, fire, to 1770s) Tools either • solved the immediate problems of physical life, such as • water power, windmills, plow • served the symbolic world of art, religion, politics • cathedrals, castles The Impact of Technology on Society

31. The Taxonomy: stage 2 • Technocracy (1770s to early 1900s) • A society loosely controlled by social custom and religious tradition • Tools moving Europe from a tool-using culture to technocracy: • Clock • Printing press • Telescope • Origins of the “scientific method” The Impact of Technology on Society

32. The Taxonomy: stage 2, cont’d • Technocracy • Began in late 1700s • 1765 James Watt, steam engine • 1776, as defined by Adam Smith in Wealth of Nations • Roughly corresponds to the Industrial Revolution • Communications “Revolution” began • Books (now affordable/available), telegraph, typewriter, transatlantic cable, photography • Life began to “speed up” The Impact of Technology on Society

33. The Taxonomy: stage 3 • Technopoly (early 1900s – “present” i.e. 1993) • The submission of all forms of cultural life to the sovereignty of technique and technology. • Began in early 1900s. When? • Henry Ford’s “model T” (Huxley: 632 AF) ? • 1925 Scopes “monkey” trial ? • 1910 Frederick Taylor, Scientific Management – EFFICIENCY maxims applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission hearings between the Railroad and Labor force The Impact of Technology on Society

34. The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Taylor • the goal of human labor and thought is efficiency • technical calculation is superior to human judgment • human judgment cannot be trusted (plagued by laxity, ambiguity, unnecessary complexity) The Impact of Technology on Society

35. The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Taylor • subjectivity is an obstacle to clear thinking • what cannot be measured either does not exist or is of no value • the affairs of citizens are best guided and conducted by experts The Impact of Technology on Society

36. Why did Technopoly prosper in America? • The American “character.” • The genius and audacity of American capitalists (to say nothing for the resources available which they might exploit). • Morse, Bell, Edison, Rockefeller, Astor, Ford, Carnegie The Impact of Technology on Society

37. Why did Technopoly prosper in America? (cont’d) • The success of twentieth century technology in providing convenience, comfort, speed, hygiene and abundance. • "To every Old World belief, habit or tradition there was and still is a technological alternative: • to prayer, the alternative is penicillin • to family roots, the alternative is mobility • to reading, the alternative is television • to restraint, immediate gratification • to sin, psychotherapy” The Impact of Technology on Society

38. Definition of Technopoly A Technopoly is a society that believes that "the primary, if not the only, goal of human labor and thought is efficiency, that technical calculation is in all respects superior to human judgment ... and that the affairs of citizens are best guided and conducted by experts." (p. 43) In 1993, Technopoly existed primarily in America. Where does it exist today? The Impact of Technology on Society

39. Taxonomic Stages of the Interaction of Culture and Technology To summarize: • Tool-using Technology is integrated into the culture • Technocracy Technology attacks the culture • Technopoly Technology becomes the culture and efficiency is the paramount goal The Impact of Technology on Society

40. Provocations “We make our tools and forever after they shape us.” – Marshall McLuhan “The medium is the message.” – McLuhan “Men have become the tools of their tools.” – Henry David Thoreau The Impact of Technology on Society

41. Truisms(Wordnet: “an obvious truth”) • To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. • To a man with a pencil, everything looks like a list. • To a man with a camera, everything looks like an image. • To a man with a computer, everything looks like data. • To a man with a grade sheet, everything looks like a number. • To a man with the scientific method, everything is solvable by science or engineering. The Impact of Technology on Society

42. An Observation Each technological “advance” increases the efficiency of its predecessor. (That’s why it’s accepted as an advance.) NOTE that the scientific method is itself an improvement in efficiency over its predecessor(s). NOTE that natural selection takes place between competing technologies. The Impact of Technology on Society

43. Gibbsian Truism • Technology serves to distance* people. • Warfare: fists, rocks, spears, arrows, guns, cannons, chemical warfare, airborne bombs, missiles, biological agents. NOW: air drones, robots as proxy battlefield soldiers, ABMs fired from the other side of the world. *although distance here is used in the literal sense of physical proximity, technology also serves to distance people in the socio-emotional realm as well.

44. Gibbsian Truism • Technology serves to distance* people, 2nd example. • Communications between humans: gestures, spoken language, smoke signals, glyphs, cursive writing, printing press, telegraphy, radio, telephone, television. NOW: Internet (email, blogs, text messages), chats, virtual worlds (2nd Life). SOON: total VR immersion *although distance here is used in the literal sense of physical proximity, technology also serves to distance people in the socio-emotional realm as well.

45. Gibbsian Truism • What technology makes easy to do, we tend to do. (A corollary of a law of human nature known as the “path of least resistance.”) The Impact of Technology on Society

46. Creation of “Because-You-Can” TAKE the truism: What technology makes easy we tend to do ADD: Capitalist zeal, replete with marketing AND YOU GET: “Because You Can” Technologies (BYC) The Impact of Technology on Society

47. What is a (BYC)? “Because-You-Can” When the only possible answer to the question… “Why would they create that?” is… “Because you can!” you have identified a BYC. The Impact of Technology on Society

48. BYC Examples • Screaming monkey phone call • Gene bank your pet – only $1500 • No tears onions • Segway The Impact of Technology on Society

49. What typifies Technopoly? These phenomena typify Technopoly… • Information overload • “Scientism” • creation of “expertise” and a result… • the “disappearance of childhood” The Impact of Technology on Society

50. The Information Revolution… leads to Information Overload • Printing press; Gutenberg 1450 • Telegraph; Morse, 1844 (U.S.) • Photograph; Herschel and Daguerre, 1840s • Broadcasting; radio – 1920s, TV – 1950s • Personal computer; 1980s • Internet, WWW; 1990s>> volume, speed, cost*, multiple formats The Impact of Technology on Society