Technopolies
At first glance of the word 'technopoly' two very potent words can be derived: Technology and Monopoly. In our American culture both are highly abundant, although monopolies exist in rarer forms on big scales, while technology exists everywhere on many scales. In any case, this was an idea that I had never come across before. The word enables me to better explain the way we live and understand the ideas Postman discusses in his article. Before I get too far with my tangents, writing, numeration scales and computers are all in the same category (technology); with different effects of course since they each entail their own societal usages. Postman takes technology a step further and dubs our society that of a technopoly; which attempts to couple the order of nature and such things as writing and grading in order to explain the role of technology and its transformation in our society.
The grounding argument is that ONE alteration in the order or nature will inevitably, scientifically alter many other processes of nature; or human nature since we're talking about our grading scale, computers, etc. As far as the order of nature (in the wild, say), there is always a goal for constant equilibrium of plants, food, animals, shelter, security. What I mean by this is to mention evolution and natural selection...things happen naturally and to the benefit of the fittest; in other words, there is a natural order. All I'm saying here is that the invention of the technology of writing changes all other processes of our culture; hence, analogous to the order or nature in that as one thing changes all other things must change or alter their presence in some form or another.
To further explain the relationship between the technology of writing and the order of nature consider this: As writing became gradually more mainstream, other ways of life changed. Oral learning and communication were used less; group activities, cooperation, and a sense of social responsibility suffered as a result. This is what I mean by OUR order of nature as an American culture. It is never the case that ONE medium (ie. writing) or aspect of life is solely altered, but it is the case that causes a domino effect on other things. It DOES NOT ADD or SUBTRACT anything, it CHANGES EVERYTHING; even culture.
Too often of times, new technology is based on increasing efficiency and saving money due to our American ways and culture. When what we should really consider is our conception of learning, the quality of the material, etc. Television is a prime example of the effects certain media can have on viewers, especially children in their developing years. The people/organizations in charge of running and airing gargabe (propaganda; in whatever form) on T.V. tend to control those minds that watch it daily. The more one focuses on a certain programming is conditioned to believe that content much more readily than someone who has seen it a couple of times. So many conceptions of reality come from the T.V.; regarding war, racism, happiness, social "in's".
Not all conceptions we receive from T.V. effect our society in negative ways, but those effects are rarely considered since we have become so desensitized to that way of life. We learn to write from a young age and watch television before we can walk; such activities are engraved within us.
We need to consider new technologies before they come into mass production and change our lives before we even realize it. Look at the PC/Mac. I find people for and against the use of computers all over; are they useful tools to humanity? or will they become or take or humanity in the future? If you think about it, computers seem to be getting exponentially smarter so why wouldn't that be possible? I'd rather leave that question for the future...
In the caption, the man predicts computers the sizes of rooms will hit homes in 2004. Looks like he was wrong. One obsession within a culture can change the way most of the world functions and lives.
Will online, virtual classes take over the social skills one acquires when in physical classrooms?
Thought this was pretty interesting: https://www.lighttounite.org/
Demonstrates the role of computers within our digital world using Virtual Candle Lighting. Apparently, they will give one dollar for everyone that lights the candle to the World AIDS Fund. Check it out.
