In the essay “Into the Electronic Millennium” (1994) Sven Birkerts argues that the “electronic order” (2) is the source of three detrimental effects on the future of society: “language erosion” (19), “flattening of historical perspectives” (21), and “waning of the private self” (23). Birkerts supports his claims regarding the Electronic Millennium by juxtaposing the print engagement (“essentially private” (1)) and the electronic order (“intrinsically public” (2)), citing specific examples illustrating the “macroscopic shift” (6) (“modification of the cannon” (7 footnote), “sensation bombardment” (13), and “streamlining” (26)), finally explaining “language erosion” (19), “flattening of historical perspectives” (21), and “waning of the private
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.
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.
In a world that has been overtaken by technological innovations, it is no surprise that the conventional way of communicating has suddenly become outdated and rejected. With the speed of light, a lot can easily get done; many people across the globe now conveniently interact with one another through instant messaging, text messaging, email, and other faster means of communication. Nonetheless, there are people who still reckon with the hoary method of communicating. In her essay “In Praise of a Snail’s Pace”, Ellen Goodman, the author, depicts a picture of a system that has derailed from the old and decent way of doing things into a “world of hyperactive technology” (52). This transition has captivated the majority of people into neglecting the slow but graceful way of living in general. Goodman explains the negative impact which technology, especially the internet, is having on communications, families, businesses, relationships, and the society at large. She calls it “continual partial attention” (52). The author’s rhetorical is not about doing things at the pace of a snail; rather it is about doing certain things at the right pace while paying proper attention to detail. The author convincingly
The essay “Into the electronic millennium” is a cynical observation of an author named Sven Birkerts, towards the electronic era of 21st century. Author’s overall intent of the essay is to put forth an awareness with a pinch of bias on the electronic damage to the society. He makes many assertions to argue his points which are some what valid even today, some of them which capture quick attention are: “The electronic media are invisible in process, but omnipresent in product” (Birkerts), “the only way that we can understand what is happening- what has already happened- is by the way of serve and unnatural dissociation of sensibility” (Birkerts). With all these impressive protestations, author is trying to make his readers ponder about the topic, as he says, “ To get the grip on the dimensions of the change, you must force yourself to imagine -deeply and in non-televisual terms- what the world was like a hundred, even fifty, years ago” (Birkerts).
Everyday, our world gains a new technology advancement. At first it began with a computer being created in the year of 1822 by Charles Babbage. Which now turned into having an everything being held on a 4.7-inch screen device. Engagements with other individuals are different now. Preferably teenagers would rather create a group message than start a conversation. The amount of terrorist attacks and technology consumed on a daily basis created a suspicion upon the government. Fahrenheit 451 and Minority report authors both demonstrate their concern on the effect of technology and government have on our future.
A professor at MIT, by the name of Sherry Turkle writes about the negative effects technology has had on our society. She begins by introducing her experience at MIT during the primitive times of the computer, a time when most faculty did not see the necessity for a personal computer. Sherry’s article is eloquently written through logical, chronological structure. She goes on to illustrate the unforeseen transformation the computer has brought upon our inner personal relationships. The article’s argument is strongly supported by Sherry’s high credibility as an author, being the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self as well as a professor and researcher in that field
...istful portrayal of our affaire de cœur with technology and its larger socio-cultural insinuation is hard to miss. This is especially relevant to our current societal trajectory where the hand of technology is omnipresent. In this not so distant future portrayal of the world, the boundaries between man and technology have been erased, and the concept of privacy is defunct. It is a world where humans are more connected and in sync with their gizmos than fellow humans. Emotions are no longer defined as an instinctive, intuitive feeling, but a commodity that has been monetized by reducing it to binary code and installed in artificially intelligent operating systems. If this is the future powered by man’s technological genius, then it should give us all pause and make us think twice before we decide to distract ourselves with gadgets in the face of human interaction.
A disregard for social consequences: Social constructivist writing explains how technologies come to be, however it ignores the consequences of technologies and the impac...
It is evident that Ruth Marcus’s “Cyberspace Dunderheads” and Goldwasser’s “What’s the matter with kids today?” share common objectives. Both articles concur that advances in technology have restructured our present and future existence in various ways. Communication, social networking, and obtaining knowledge have all been affected from technology’s advances, according to the two authors. Although their articles have similarities, all of their views and opinions do not coincide .Goldwasser and Marcus chose different avenues of expressing their opinions.
Since the Industrial Revolution, technology has permeated and become an integral part of our everyday lives. In fact, a life without technology seems almost impossible to imagine. Almost everyone, around the globe, has access to technology in one form or another. Consequently this type of technology has become ingrained into our culture. Its roots are so deep that it is now peculiar to see someone without a smartphone than with one. Consequently, smartphones and the Internet have radically changed the manner in which we communicate and how we communicate with one another. Our speech has metamorphosed so much from that of our grandparents that it almost seems like a foreign language due to the incorporation of slang and “text talk.” With the sudden surge of email, blogs, and instant messaging that occurred within the last couple of decades, the impact that technology has on our linguistics has become more pronounced. Technology has helped to bridge the gap between people by allowing us to communicate as easily as we breathe. On this note, one would think that the dawn of the Era of Technology would give birth to a renaissance of the English language but, instead, the converse is taking place. With such widespread prevalence of technology such as smartphones and computers, the degradation of the English language is a problem now more than ever.
What am I that I am a human being? What is my place in the nature of things? At the close of the twentieth century, facing the dawn of a new millennium, the goal of paidea or philosophy educating humanity might best be achieved by philosophy recovering and reaffirming its interest in these two anthropological questions. In this essay I defend this claim through an analysis of the view of human nature implicit in the digital culture. For the past several decades, while philosophers have largely ignored anthropological issues, the sub-cultures swirling around computers and other digital technologies have been busy shaping and defining the way in which human nature will be conceived in the next millennium. More often than not, however, these views of human nature are produced in a philosophical and critical vacuum with little thought given to what we as human beings are and what we might become. Philosophers must address this vacuum by renewing their responsibility to speak to these issues, once again taking up the work of articulating a philosophical anthropology and providing the guidance on these issues that they once did.
Today's world revolves around the storing, organization, and communication of information. While the world today may seem new and unique, this digital world arose out of a combination of many smaller steps that varied from innovations like a new discovery in science or a new philosophical outlook. In their writings Lev Manovich, a professor of New Media at San Diego University, and Dr. Simon Cook, an Economics professor at Duke University, have developed of a history of what lead to the development of the visual world. Manovich claims that the digital revolution came in a three-step process. The first took place in the time period between 1870 and 1920. Manovich believes that during this time period, called the late Victorian, a change occurred in the cultural attitude toward vision. This change was seen in the development of various forms of visual reasoning by scholars like Galton, Venn, and Einstein. The next step occurred after World War II. The world had seen large advances in technology and industry. Because of this change, the worker began to do less physical labor and a shift in focus from developing physical efficiency to mental efficiency occurred. The last step has occurred in the modern times. Here the shift focused on the development and dominance of the computer (Cook 2).
Hence, any debate of the future becoming digital must take into consideration the reaction of the media to the technological innovations of the world, from the Personal Computers (PC) to the smallest Smartphone. Although mass media has increased with technological innovations, what driv...
Rosen, senior editor if New Atlantis, on her essay published in Wilson Quarterly in autumn 2009 “In the Beginning Was the Word,” points out how digital technology, especially in communication and entertainment, affects negatively on our lives socially and cognitively. She believes that although technology might appear as sign of our progress as humans, it is withdrawing us from the core literature. Rosen explains th...
Media and technology have an ever increasing role in how we as humans communicate with one another as well as help impact our culture. The printed word, once able to be mass produced helped usher in an era where where people could seek the education and reading skills they desired, brought print and knowledge to the masses. Now with the more common use of digital communication and media outlets, our options for information and communication are almost entirely unimpeded. Technology allows us to live through multiple Renaissance type periods filled with ever growing pools of information from which to share, and culture changing happenings coming from every corner of our connected world.