Technopoly (xi-91)

Neil Postman is trying to explain the good and the bad associations with technology in general. From the beginning of time until now, we as humans are constantly battling over the positive and negative impacts of technology. Postman goes on to say that technology has benefits and deficits, while there are also winners and losers of technology's impact. He questions the impact of technology on schools and teachers, for example, how computers (which inevitably were created thanks to the invention of the printing press) are taking over teacher's jobs. The whole idea of reading, writing and arithmetics is being transformed and weened out of school systems due to the use of computers. New technologies are re-structuring the way we think about things, our interests, our character, the nature of community and the arena in which thoughts develop (20). From tool-using cultures (the times of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler) to technocracies, to the still-developing technopolies, we have as humans, ultimately relied on technology for the development and progress of the human condition. Postman states that technology has essentially helped humans invent inventions. "We had learned how to invent things and the question of why we invent things receded in importance," (42). Technopoly, "the submission of all forms of cultural life to the sovereignty of technique and technology," (52) happened for four different reasons according to Postman. First, the American character was altered due to the "limitless possibilities" within our society. Second, American capitalists sought after economic possibilities. Third, there was no other reason to look for fullfillment, creativity and purpose because technology gives all of that to us. Lastly, old sources of beliefs were failing and swindling, while technology never fails. Furthermore, Postman talks about the idea of information control. Schools, courts of law, family and political systems are all sources of information control. We are at a point in our time where information is "garbage" (69) because there is just so much of it and we are running out of ways to control the way information is processed throughout our society. "It is what happens when a culture, overcome by information generated by technology, tries to employ technology itself as a means of providing clear direction  and human purpose," (72). We are essentially at an information overload, and there is no stopping or controlling it.
My thoughts on his ideas and discussions are essentially in line with Postman. Technology, in my opinion, is a good thing and a bad thing. We have so much information at our fingertips and we are so easily able to access any type of information within seconds. The development of technology has come such a long way, yet it is interesting to discuss the workings of Galileo, Kepler and Copernicus and how their inventions, thoughts and theories still affect our information and technology-driven society today. Postman talks about the idea of religion and technology, which I find interesting. He goes on to say that "religious tradition serves as a mechanism for the regulation and valuation of information," (80). There has always been a debate over religion and its effects on government, cultural opinion and so forth. Now there is a never-ending conflict with religion and technology. We resort back in time to scientific sources to try to understand the "truth" and why we are here, but this has always been debated in religious views because science and God (The Bible) cannot be combined to deliver truth. I think it is amazing that the findings of these "Sleepwalkers" as they call them, advanced the progress of technology and ultimately gave reason and purpose to life. There is in some way a connection of science to the progress of human life, and this stems from the development of technology. Yet there is also an underlying factor of disconnectivity within technology that affects our society culturally and socially. With our predispositioned bias of technology, we are ultimately changing and growing as humans in our cultural world due to technology. Like Postman says, "It changes everything," (18).