What is the "titanic effect" and how does Eberhart shed new light on the causes of that famous tragedy using this concept?
Technological change is a mixed blessing because the world is complex and people are complicated; so as an extension of our human capabilities into the natural surroundings the technical implements we use both deliver and steal from us, they both elevate and adulterate, leaving us ill-equipped to function in a world of functionaries armed with digitally powerful electronic equipment.
Authors:
Pursell | Tenner | Pacey–World| Pacey–Meaning | Postman | Eberhart | Snow | Kaku
The dawn of a "Brave New World" or a Gulag of Gadgets?
From reductionism to synergy
p. 11
The computerized work-place emerged from IBM with the introduction of mainframes.
195
"While the computer (main frame) is perhaps the key technology of the information infrastructure, it is certainly not the only or most common one."
"The entire field of telecommunications technology is taken to be an integral part of the system."
Telephones—digital dialing—tied to the computer—Fax; facsimile machines—photocopy
"After the telephone, television is perhaps the most widespread of telecommunications technologies."
Pp.197-198
The origins of a world at light speed with our minds still at sound speed
Background:
1950s
1. the transistor as forerunner of the microchip Bell Labs & Texas Instruments
2. the discovery of DNAÕs structural lattice (1953) Cavendish & London labs
3. the launch of the satellite (Sputnik, 1957) space race with Soviet Union, NASA
Argument:
Technology is neither good, nor bad. Melvin Kranzberg
"Turn on, tune in, turn off." Is Timothy LearyÕs (Harvard psychologist) pithy statement of one relation to the electronics of the atomic age.
"The Otaku generation—kids lost to everyday life" by their immersion in computer reality—provides a strong symbol of this."
pp. 212-213
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| Tools of Toil: what to read. | ||
| Tools are historical building blocks of technology. | ||
