Technopolies
Technopolies, as I understand them, are how we as a society rely heavily on technology to survive. The term "technopoly" serves as a term that somewhat scolds the human race for becoming so dependant on technology in our daily lives. A prime example of a technological advancement that is relied heavily upon is the computer. The computer has become a household item, at least in the U.S. It seems today that a student would not be able to function in a school if the student did not have a computer in their home.
The computer is an example of how the world gets information back and forth hence functioning as a means of communication. For instance, email is becoming a more and more common method of communcation.
If one were to try and communicate without the use of technology, they would find it to be very difficult. When contemplating technology it is easy to see that technology has successfully made the world a smaller place in terms of communication. Take my current situation for example, I am living relatively close to home, only having a 1 - 1.5 hour car ride to get back to see my family. However, if I were without technology, it would be extremely difficult for me to stay in contact with my family and if I had an emergency and needed to contact them immediately, it would be impossible. The cell phone, email, and once in a great while the U.S. Postal Service are my means of communicating with my loved ones back at home.
Technology has become so much a part of human nature because it keeps us comfortable, and as we seek to become more comfortable in our environment (as all creatures tend to do) it adapts and takes on new forms all the time. I think that if somehow we were to be without electricity to power our many forms of technology, society would flounder unable to adapt effectively to the change in it's environment. If you think about it, the human race has had to adapt little to shifts in environment, the only thing that has really changed in hundreds of years is technology and our understanding of what we can produce to make us more comfortable. This "characteristic" of the human race, to develop technology in lieu of actually adapting and evolving to suit our surroundings has caused us to become detatched from nature.
As an example of our feebleness as a result of our dependance on technology, an alien race looking to conquer us would simply have to "pull the plug". Finding a way to cutoff power to the world (an Electro Magnetic Pulse perhaps) would sever communications, cause mass chaos and ultimately allow the alien race to run all over us. Granted the aliens weren't somehow defeated by water/ common diseases.
