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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that examines the position of Postman in Technopoly, The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992). Postman espouses the position that science's revelations have become so far beyond the comprehension of the ordinary person that the population at large is not capable of grasping their meaning. Postman sees modern culture as being sacrificed to the often incomprehensible repercussions of technology, creating "Technopoly," a factor that he perceives as both "strange and dangerous." No additional sources are cited.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khpostt.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
that the population at large is not capable of grasping their meaning. Postman sees modern culture as being sacrificed to the often incomprehensible repercussions of technology, creating "Technopoly," a factor
that he perceives as both "strange and dangerous" (Postman 20). As this suggests, while Postman admits that technology brings some benefits, for the most part, he is skeptical of
technology and its influences on society, and he argues that Technopoly is threatens the fundamental institutions of the country. Postman states that when old technology is assaulted by a new
one, societal institutions are threatened and when institutions are threatened, the society as a whole is in crisis (Postman 18). This is serious and it is "why we learn nothing
when educators ask, Will student learn mathematics better by computers" (Postman 18). By this, Postman means that the use of a computer is incidental to the larger question, which is
whether or not machines will replace humans at the task of teaching the next generation. Postman appears to feel that Technopoly is perpetuating the notion of human as machine and
machine as human (Postman 113). This interpretation of technology sees all innovation as value-laden, as promoting a conceptualization of reality that values machines over people and so-called "progress" over culture.
In the early nineteenth century, protestors against emerging technology, the Luddites, broke into factories and destroyed technology --power looms--as they felt this new innovation was threatening their way of
life. Use of this term, in a modern sense, expresses the fear of many, including Postman, that technology has come to control us, rather than people controlling technology. Postman makes
the point repeatedly that introduction of new technologies "changes everything" (Postman 18). He argues that it is impossible to contain the effects of a new technology. For example, after
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