Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (Part I)

Technology is ruining our lives! I don’t really believe that (at least not entirely), but that’s the thought the keeps popping into my head as I continue to read through the book Technopoly, by Neil Postman. Basically Neil Postman makes a strong effort through this book to enlighten his readers about the imperfections of the new age technology everyone has come to adore so much. Advertisements and magazines and television commercials paint a very one sided picture about technology and in Technopoly Neil Postman just tries to give the readers a good high resolution view of the other side of the picture. In the beginning of the book, Neil Postman tells a fairly historical depiction of the effects of new technology, telling about Plato’s story Phaedrus and moving on to scientists such as Kepler and Copernicus. It seems to me that he does this as a way to convey that the effects of new technology is really nothing new and that it has been happening over and over again even since the time of ancient Egypt. Grand new technologies continue to be invented, and every time there is a great disruption in culture and world views that come with them. At least that is the message that I feel Neil Postman conveys. As I read through this book, it is hard not to feel that Neil Postman seems to have some sort of chip on his shoulder when it comes to technology and even though he tries to defend himself and say he is unbiased, I can’t help but feel that he is paints a rather dark picture on the effects of technology. But, as I said before, the media paints such a perfectly light picture of technology that I feel its good to have someone like Neil Postman tell a darker side of the story so that a person can truly see the two sides of the coin and properly come up with their own personal views on technology.

Although his depiction of technology is a bit one sided, Neil Postman does make extremely valid points and arguments in his accession of the effects of new technology on the world. One of his arguments in particular that caught my attention quite a bit was when he spoke about the war between new and old technologies and their users. Every time a great new technology comes out that could replace some older, but widely accepted, technology, a battle between ideologies takes place. The people who accept, use, and even profit from the older technology will strive to keep it from being replace, because if it is replaced then those people will not have the technological power any more. In Technopoly, Neil Postman communicates this quite well when he says “those who have control over the workings of a particular technology accumulate power and inevitably form a kind of conspiracy against those who have no access to the specialized knowledge made available by this technology.”(pg. 9) This argument I find extremely true, and it is a rather negative effect of technology. What Neil Postman argues here is also well supported in the previous book I read, Computers: The Life Story of a Technology. Reading through that book, it was very surprising how often power shifted to new user groups and how often these technological wars started and ended. Just reading about the software explosion alone; so many companies would be started with some new sort of technology, whether it is a new type of operating system or just some sort of business calculation program. These companies would come out with this technology, make a very large amount of profit from their product and become very well known and powerful, but then be out of business within a couple years. So many companies were coming out with new technologies so fast that very few companies, such as Microsoft and Apple, were actually able to keep up the pace of inventing and improving technologies in order to maintain power. Furthermore, when these new technologies are invented, it is most often the cultures centered around the old technologies that lose the battles and end up forced to learn how to use the new technologies or suffer the consequences. Such consequences could be something minuscule like not being up to date with you peers, or something very important like not getting a job position. It seems that the rapid growth of technology has made the world, and particular America, a very cutthroat place where one must force themselves to keep up or else they will be left behind.

Computers: The Life Story of a Technology (pg. 84-149)

So throughout this week, I have continued to read the book Computers: the Life Story of Technology by Eric G. Sweden and David L. Ferro. I have finished the book and I must say that I am surprised at how much I liked this book. I usually am not very interested in reading stories, but the story of a technology seemed to catch my attention. In the second half of this book, the Sweden and Ferro really make a fast transition into the world of the personal computer. The personal computer seems to really owe its existence to Ted Hoff, who started Intel and created the first microprocessor. This new category of processors allows the size of a computer to be reduced quite dramatically, which led to the idea of people owning their own personal computers. It would be Edward Roberts who actually created the first “personal” size computer though, naming it the Altair 8800. After that, the proverbial cat was out of the bag and soon after many other personal computers began to spring up. One of the biggest affects of the personal computer seems to be the extremely fast expansion of the software industry. The seemed to be largely due to the fact that computer builders wanted to be able to sell computers to people who weren’t extremely knowledge about them, and those people also wanted to be able to take advantage of them too. This quickly led to companies being created to create programs and operating systems that made using these small computers much easier. Out of the many companies that tried and failed to continually produce software for these computers, two companies were started that are known of today as powerhouses in operating system programming: Apple and Microsoft. After the software explosion, the next thing to come along and take computer users by storm was the internet. Beginning with the simple need of increasing connectivity between different computers in the military, what they called ARPANET quickly was expanded upon in the commercial world and turned into numerous networks, which then would ultimately connect to each other to become the “network of networks” known as the internet. In only a matter of about ten years or so, the internet went from a couple military computers connected to each other to the world wide web we all know of today. After this, computer were anywhere and everywhere and, for better or worse, seemed to have become required in order to go about our daily lives.

Throughout this story, the authors continually try to depict how much computers would become integrated into the lives of every single person. Sweden and Ferro show in the first half of this book that the computer began to aid people in numerous ways, but in the second half of this book they really prove that the creation of the microchip has created a world in which we can not go through one day without using a computer. It is even stated in the book, “Even non-computer-oriented people still use watches, stereos, television, automobiles, and other electronic equipment, all equipped with embedded microprocessors.”(pg. 132) This wealth of technology also seems to be creating quite a rift between the people who can afford and the people who can not. While computers and the internet are very good information gathering tools, they are also creating greater and greater divisions among people by dividing groups into the “information rich” and “information poor.” (pg. 132) There are such divisions right in the United States and all of the people who can not afford to access all of this information are being left behind. It is said in this book that computer literacy is beginning to be thought of by some as just important as regular literacy, and it is crucial in being a proper citizen and attaining a good career. (pg. 133) If this rift between the “haves” and “have-nots” in the world of technological information is not dealt with soon, it seem as though it will become permanent.

With the advent of the personal computer and the user friendly operation system, it seems that Sweden and Ferro have suggested a caveat pertaining to the security of such an easy to access computer world. As previously stated, people have become quite dependent on technology, and being so dependent on something can make people very vulnerable to certain attacks. Technology is a wonderful, but people seem to forget that all of the things utilizing current technology are still man made and man made parts will fail at some point. This is illustrated perfectly in this book when the authors describe an event that took place in 1980 involving a failed microchip. A microchip failed causing an alert that a Soviet submarine had just launched two nuclear missiles at the United States. (pg. 143) Thankfully the American commanders realized the alert was false, but before realizing that, numerous American bomber crews were alerted and their own nuclear missiles were armed. We came just an inch away from nuclear war, and it was all because a microchip that costs 46 cents failed. That is an extreme example of how our dependence on technology brings with it inherent risks that need to be considered, but many things could happen that are not that extreme. The microchip controlling a car’s computer could short out and causing an accident. Furthermore, the authors make it clear that with such easy access to computers and the internet, there are a lot of people now that do not intend to use them for proper purposes. Hackers are a big problem now that technology has grown so rapidly. Hackers are making malicious software and programs that are constantly moving about on the internet, and without proper security anyone could acquire some type of virus or worm and create numerous problems for themselves. Computers and technology in general have taken over American culture and now we all act like we need it like oxygen in our lungs. For better or worse, American cultures now strive on technology, are created around technology, and will only grow more dependent on technology as it becomes more advanced.

Computers: The Life Story of a Technology (pg. 1-83)

For the past week or so, I have been reading the book Computers: The Life Story of Technology by Eric G. Swedin and David L. Ferro. It is actually quite an interesting book. Without reiterating the book word for word, so far the story has been mostly concentrating on the creation of the computer and how it came to be what it is today. The book starts before computer existed at all, and illustrates that before computers there was still a need for to be able to numerically count and keep order. Whether it was using an abacus, slide rules, or even notched bones, ever since people existed they seem to have always created ways to calculate and compute numbers. During the 1600’s, mechanical devices began to be invented for computation purposes, such as Napier’s Bones and Pascal’s calculator. The transition from mechanical to electronic computational devices seemed to be one of the largest and most grueling steps towards the computer. Such a great step in technological history would not have occurred without genius minds like that of Charles Babbage. Charles Babbage invented the Difference Engine and was working on his Analytic Engine, which would have been quite similar to the computers of today, when he died. I think Swedin and Ferro purposely told about his death as a way to illustrate how dedicated these scientists and engineers were to creating these instruments. They literally spent their entire lives on them. It would not be until the early 1900’s when the first completely electronic computer was created. After that, the rate at which computer technology progressed began speeding up greatly, moving from vacuum tubes to transistors and then from transistors to integrated circuits and microprocessors. It only took about sixty years for the computer to evolve from vacuum tubes to integrated circuits, which is quite a small amount of time considering it took approximately three hundred years to transition from mechanical to electronic computational instruments. After that, it took very little time for the computer to get smaller and more commercially successful, which very quickly led to the personal computers we all know of today.

The authors, in an effort to explain the story of the computer, seem to very much relate the creation of the computer to the birth and growth of a human being. The authors split the life of a computer up into three generation: vacuum tubes, transistors, and then integrated circuits and microprocessors. These three generations can be related to childhood, teenage, and adulthood years of a human being. Also, considering that the authors make this connection between computers and people, it seems that he believe that the computer might be headed towards a decline in progression. This decline could also be related to the aging and inevitable death of a person. This seemed most prevalent to me when the authors stated that although Moore’s law says that after 1980 the density of components on an integrated circuit will continue to double every two years, “within a decade engineers fear that quantum effects will begin to substantially affect the ability of Moore’s Law to remain true”.(pg. 68) At least in terms of hardware capabilities, it seems that another transition is going have to be made from microprocessors, perhaps bringing computers into the “middle-aged” years of adulthood, or else the rapid progression we see today is going to run into a wall.

Just as the authors relate the life of a computer to the life of a person, he also seems to convey the message that as the computer grows up, so does its connection and grasp on American and worldwide culture. While reading through this book, it became very clear to me that parallel to the rapid progress of computer technology is the rapid progress of people’s dependence on them and their demand for them. When inventions of computational machines first began, their only purpose was to make complex calculations easier. The authors make it very clear that until recently government factions, such as the military, were the driving force behind the progress of the computer. The authors even state that during the 1940’s over half of the programmers in the United States were working on the Semi-automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, which was funded by the U.S. Air Force. (pg. 49) Government and business funding was the only way people like John Atanasoff , John Eckert, and John Mauchly had the money to do their experiments and build their computers. Furthermore, the authors tell us that from 1960 to 1970, the amount of computers built worldwide rose from 7,000 to 130,000. (pg. 83) Swedin and Ferro made it a point in this book to show just how integrated into peoples lives computers became even in 1970. Also, at the end of the first half of this book, they imply that the computer will become pivotal in the lives of almost every single person once it becomes small enough to fit in a person's home. Just thinking about the world we all live in today and how rapidly things such as the internet have progressed in just a matter of a few years, I have to wholly agree with the authors and their arguments about our dependence on computers.

Activity Log and Blog

For the past four days or so I have been keeping a detailed log of when I go on the internet and where I go when I am on the internet. I suppose that some people would be surprised by some of the websites they go to without really thinking much about it at the time, but I was not affected very much at all when I read my internet activity log. Before starting the log, I knew what my reasons were for using the internet and the activity log just confirmed them. Whether it’s going on automotive forums, blogs, or watching videos on youtube; I would say that approximately eighty percent of my internet activity is automotive related. The other twenty percent consists of a mixture of learning about and acquiring music, looking up school information, and just looking up information on other subjects that interest me. Even when I look up information on other subjects, usually they have to do with some science or type of mathematics. Also, every now and then a friend will send me some video from youtube or another similar website that is usually funny or ridiculous in some way, but I don’t think I have ever just gone and started searching for them myself. I am sure that my internet activity must seem quite boring relative to many other people’s, but the internet is a tool for gathering information of interest, so that is why I use it.

Although I was not surprised about where I went on the internet, I was actually a bit surprised at how often I used the internet and my computer in general. Usually the first thing I do when I wake up is turn my computer on and the last thing I do before I go to sleep is turn my computer off. Even when I am doing something else, such as school work, I am usually either doing it on my computer, or doing while using my computer. It seems that the computer has become so effortless to use and such a vast resource for information that it can now be included in almost everything people do throughout their day.

Although I spent so much time using my computer, according to my log I never once went to myspace, facebook, twitter, or did any blogging of my own. I am not very interested in learning about people’s personal lives and what they are doing every minute of the day, nor do I very much care to tell people about my personal life. Therefore, things like myspace, facebook, twitter, and blogging never really interested me very much. I mean, I don’t even have a myspace, facebook, or twitter account, and the only blogs I ever go to just show pictures and videos of the latest automotive race or event. In my opinion, all of those things are really just irony at its best. They were all created with the advertised idea of bringing people together and increasing “connectivity”, but really all they are doing is just making relationships between people more and more impersonal and digital. It gets to the point where people would just rather look someone up on facebook too see what they are doing instead of actually picking up a phone to talk to them. Also, just to add a little more irony, nowadays those phones, on which people have become so unwilling to actually talk, are usually the devices that they are using to go on facebook, twitter, and myspace. I am sure many would disagree with me, but that is how I see things.