Kelly and Sale: Persuasive Or Pointless?
Unarguably, since technology has been introduced, it has had profound effects, permeating not only onto society, but our entire ecological system. To categorize the effects of technology as predominantly beneficial or detrimental, as Kevin Kelly and Kirkpatrick Sale claim in their interview, is difficult. "Interview With The Luddite" captures and vividly illustrates their seemingly pointless and underdeveloped ideas. Kelly, protechnology, and Sale, a contemporary neo-Luddite, discuss many technological issues, including the automation of the labor force, oral tradition, literacy, and civilization. Later, they go on to present often radical and unrealistic solutions to the issues. While at times I can fathom certain aspects of the arguments, their solutions are predominantly too idealistic. In this paper, I plan to explore the physical setting of the interview, important nonphysical aspects including the intentions of the participants, and the ideas presented, while incorporating my own perceptions of their persuasiveness and effectiveness.
The atmosphere of the June 1995 interview between Kelly and Sale is of essential importance to the initial impressions of the audience. Firstly, Kelly and Sale agreed to the interview which was published in Wired magazine. "This popular on-line magazine lacks any in-depth discussion of even the most problematic issues surrounding digital culture" (243). Obviously, the magazine offers a purely biased perspective and presents only the positive effects of technological innovations. Appearing in such a biased magazine may seem initially beneficial to the conversion intentions of Sale, the Luddite, but with deeper analysis it becomes clear that the c...
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... convincing. Still, I cannot fathom the motivations behind the interview for either participant. Perhaps Kelly's goal was to persuade Sale, which he did, and perhaps Sale's goal was to attract publicity. Nevertheless, neither was very effective or intriguing in their arguments.
I propose we invite technology and essentially the future. But we should never overstep our boundaries in this world. Instead, accept our role, have regard for nature, respect the Higher Being, and finally consider the consequences of our actions. If all aspects are considered, the undeveloped and seemingly pointless analogies illustrated by Kelly and Sale can be thankfully avoided.
Works Cited
Kelly, Kevin. "Interview With The Luddite." Andrea A.Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, The Presence Of Others: Voices That Call For A Response. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. (243-253)
People all around agree that technology is changing how we think, but is it changing us for the better? Clive Thompson definitely thinks so and this book is his collection of why that is. As an avid fiction reader I wasn’t sure this book would captivate me, but the 352 pages seemingly flew past me. The book is a whirlwind of interesting ideas, captivating people, and fascinating thoughts on how technology is changing how we work and think.
Animal metabolism consists of the utilization of nutrients absorbed from the digestive tract and their catabolism as fuel for energy or their conversion into substances of the body. Metabolism is a continuous process because the molecules and even most cells of the body have brief lifetimes and are constantly replaced, while tissue as a whole maintains its characteristic structure. This constant rebuilding process without a net change in the amount of a cell constituent is known as dynamic equilibrium (Grolier1996). In the combustion of food, oxygen is used and carbon dioxide is given off. The rate of oxygen consumption indicates the energy expenditure of an organism, or its metabolic rate (Grolier1996).
We live in a time where technology is at the center of our society. We use technology on a daily basis, for the simplest tasks, or to aid us in our jobs, and don’t give a second thought to whether these tools are actually helping us. Writers such as Kevin Kelly and Clive Thompson argue that the use of technology actually helps us humans; whiles writers such as Nicholas Carr argue that technology affects people’s abilities to learn information negatively.
Research studies suggest theories such as the SMCR model, Ranks theory and inoculation theory are effective models of persuasion. In addition, they determined the boomerang effect to be a unique theory of persuasion in which the communication efforts result in goal opposites (Woodard et al., 2013, p. 144). In comparison, the communication outcomes of the SMCR and Ranks theories goal oriented. The SMCR model consists of four uncomplicated key components: a source, message, channel and receiver (Larson, C., 2013, p. 22). Similarly, the Ranks model is a straightforward persuasion process identifying four plans of attack and six correlated methods used by persuaders to implement persuasion goals into strategies using specific methods (Larson, C., 2013, p. 29). The strength of the Ranks model is the development of a more demanding and interpretive receiver (Larson, C., 2013, p. 29). In a like manner, the SMCR process focuses on this area to assist the receiver in identifying the persuader’s motives (Larson, C., 2013, p. 23). Both the SMCR and the Ranks models identify external processing strategy weakness in the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) (Larson, C., 2013, pp. 25 & 29). For example, the theories suggest messages are not fully examined and become impacted in the hidden and intuitive area of the receiver’s brain (Larson, C., 2013, p. 25).
Goldberg, David Theo. “If Technology Is Making Us Stupid, It’s Not Technology’s Fault.” Blog. Digital Humanities. August 16, 2010. Gooch and Suyler. in Argument. Avenue of the Americas, New York.2011. 301-03. Print.
With the development of science and technology, the new technology broadens people’s vision and has greatly facilitated people's lives. It is commonly believed that the advanced science and technology add much flavor to people's daily life. More and more people deem that social media play an increasingly important role, which cannot be ignored, in people’s social life and work in the 21st century. Because of that, many people would like to keep abreast with the latest development of the new technology. However, from another perspective, we cannot ignore the negative effects new medias bring to some extent. Sherry Turkle, the professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hold different attitudes towards this issue. In her newest book Alone Together, Turkle explores how communication technology is changing who we are. This phenomenon social media technology brings to people exists for a number of reasons. She argues convincingly about the personal destruction resulting from our growing dependence on it.
In doing so, he ensures that the readers walk away from his writing thinking of the unnecessarity of technology and how it distracts one from nature. He encourages the reader to think about what they can do to minimize the amount of technology in their life so they may be more attuned to nature. In short, Robert Louv wisely uses rhetorical devices to form a persuasive
Lewis, Wyndham. Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Farewell to Arms. Ed. Jay Gellens. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1970. 56-64.
...mitted through these devices. It could be easily argued that technology has positioned society on the precipice of significant achievements such as a cure for cancer, a source of sustainable energy, and production strategies that could significantly reduce worldwide hunger. However, as powerful as technology is, it requires innovation, creativity, and intellection—all human specific traits—to reach its full potential. Unfortunately, the negative cultural connotations resulting from this technological revolution have placed society at risk of being able to consistently develop these characteristics in future generations. While the future is indeed bright, a continuing optimism requires a careful examination of the true utility of various technologies and a conscious commitment to regain the most important things that have been lost in this technological revolution.
Generally, the study of crime mainly focused on the offender until quite recently. In fact, Shapland et al (1985) described the victim as ‘the forgotten man’ of the criminal justice system and ‘the non-person in the eyes of the professional participants’. A new perspective was brought with victimology, an expanding sub-discipline of crimin...
Christie, N. (1986) ‘The ideal victim’, in E. Fattah, (Ed.), From Crime Policy to Victim Policy: Reorienting the Justice System New York: St Matins Press
The idea of victim-oriented crime prevention holds that the majority of victimisation that occurs centres around a relatively small percentage of the population and that targeting crime prevention efforts and policy at potential or prior victims can prevent a large quantity of crime (Riley and Mayher 1980). In Garland’s (2001) investigation he observed that a reduced public confidence in the criminal justice system and its capability to reduce crime has led to victim treatment as playing a more important role in creating reform. In considering victims during criminal processes and law-making, the standard of efficiency in our system has been critically analysed and led to changes in a variety of areas. The development of official definitions of what constitutes victimhood and increased recognition of victims has helped legitimise and validate the criminal justice system.
As time progresses technology increases and improves. However, this progression could pose as a serious problem for generations to come, and New York University department chair of communication arts Neil Postman expresses this concern in his 1992 book, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. In the opening of Postman’s book he expresses that technology is indeed our friend because technology provides our society with fast and easy convenience and accessibility. As with most other things, there are always two sides to everything and Postman notes, that “of course, there is a dark side to this friend” referring to technology (Postman, 1992). Many people do not address the negative sides to technology and just turn a blind eye to them so it is refreshing to have someone point them out and discuss the issues technology possess on our society.
One might turn on any evening news broadcast these days and be bombarded with images of war, violence and stories of unsuspecting citizens victimized in their own communities. Is crime on the increase or is it just media hype? There are countless television shows with plots dedicated to the depiction of criminal activities fouled by law enforcement agencies with the helping hand of the law. Newspaper headlines scream out daily in bold print and action photos of the latest tragedies. Should the public be fearful of what the television conveys to us, be cautious of whatever new crime wave is presented on the media? These questions may lead one to wonder if the depiction of crime in the mass media affects the public’s perception of safety and danger in society.
Along the many discussions illustrating the effects of technology alongside humans today, Steven Pinker takes the side describing technology as something that has “shrunk the globe and stretched our lives and our minds.” Here we have Pinker depicting technology as more of a tool, than a means of living. This is important because more often than not we get nervous at the thought of technology consuming the goals of humans, corrupting the way