Natural Technology

Natural Technology

With all the technological advancements and ingenious inventions our culture and world have been introduced to, it is difficult to remove ourselves from what we are accustomed to and what our expectations are of technology, in order to dwell on what technology really is. Technology, to many, may be any appliance that uses a battery or has to be plugged into an outlet in the wall in order to work. When a person thinks of writing technology, similar thoughts may take place. Society has become comfortable with the great technology that is part of our every day lives, such as the computer or a palm pilot, we tend to forget what came first.

It is quite easy to understand why Socrates and others throughout history believed writing would be detrimental to society and the human mind. From Socrates’ “Phaedrus”, he argues against the idea of using writing, “…for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.” (Tribble/Trubek, 362) After all, we experience the same arguments even today as new technologies enter our world and become part of our lives. Writing technology, like anything else, has evolved over time. Mark Twain writes of his experience of being introduced to the typewriter, “At the beginning of the interval a type-machine was a curiosity. The person who owned one was a curiosity, too. But now it is the other way about: the person who DOESN’T own one is a curiosity.” (Tribble/Trubek, 501) After all the world has experienced in technology, however, it is almost impossible to imagine life without the technology of writing.

In ta...

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...s about their project ideas I may have become more aware of other possibilities for this project. In the end I became aware that my final idea did not even fit in the definition of “natural technology,” it was all part of the learning experience of this project.

Writing and technology are fascinating concepts when closely studied and understood. It seems as though they are connected in a way in which they are almost dependent upon each other for their existence. We could not have writing without technology, nor technology without writing. To find natural means of writing technology is a challenge and a humbling way of viewing technology and the great advancements that have been made in the world.

Work Cited

Tribble, Evelyn B., and Anne Trubek. Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the

Digital Age. New York: Longman. 2003.