For the final assignment in the class “Technology and Culture in America”, all students were given the task of writing a final essay. There were two topics to choose from: whether or not college campuses are technopolies, as defined by Neil Postman, or whether America is going to become to become a disposable society, as described by Giles Slade, or move towards “going green”. After reading the topics, I considered a couple things before deciding which one I would choose. I considered things such as how valid an argument I could make for each topic, which topic brought up the most ideas when I thought about it, and also which topic would allow me to write an essay that would be interesting to write as well as read.
After thinking about each topic for a bit, I decided that I would make an argument regarding whether our society is becoming disposable or not. This topic seemed to suit me the best. I like to think of myself as a scientific minded person, and I think writing about obsolescence was more scientific. Although there definitely is evidence to support and deny the existence of technopolies in our colleges, it all just seemed more subjective and controversial to me. It just seemed like every argument could be taken in a different manner depending one’s own views, which in my mind reduces the validity of the arguments. I felt that, making an argument about whether our society is becoming disposable would involve more scientific facts and information about the direction in which technology is moving and that felt like a topic that would be more interesting to write as well as read. Also, writing an argument about whether or not our entire society is becoming disposable involves a much more vast social area than just talking about college campuses. This made this topic feel all the more important to me, which really finalized my decision.
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