Critical Analysis- Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology- Part 1

Neil Postman defends his position on the dangers and negative effects of technology very thoroughly in his book titled, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. He believes that technology is running our lives and determines the way that we perceive reality. Postman begins his story with the legend of Thamus' and goes on to discuss scientists such as Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, proving that technology is not a relatively recent concept of the last century but has, in fact, been around for thousands of centuries. He describes that there are three types of cultures: tool using cultures, technocracies, and technopolies.  According to Postman, there are few tool using cultures left and to find one we must travel to some place exotic (22).  Tool using cultures use tools that were mainly invented to do two things; to solve specific problems of physical life and to build castles and cathedrals for the church.  He claims that in this type of culture, tools do not interfere with the integrity of the people (23-27). Technocracies are cultures in which technology is deeply rooted. Postman argues that this culture emerged during the middle ages and started to be hindered from the inventions of the mechanical clock, the printing press, and the telescope. These inventions threatened oral traditions and religion and started to intrude on people's lives (28-29).  In the third culture identified by Postman, technopolies, technology completely rules society's lives. Postman believes that Technopoly in America started during the beginning of Henry Ford's empire (49).  In this culture, technical calculation is superior and human judgement cannot be trusted (51-52).  Postman even goes as far as to say, "Technopoly is a form of cultural AIDS" (63). 


While I believe that technology, without a doubt, is beneficial to our society, I also believe to a certain extent, Postman's argument that technology is damaging, although he is a bit too extreme for my taste. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, describes our society in such a way that we are all submissive to technology, whether we like it or not.  As new technology comes out, the older technology strives to keep up and maintain an audience of users, which creates constant competition. It is not only the creators of these technologies that are forced to keep up, but it is also society that is forced to keep up to avoid being left behind.  Technology has the upper hand upon us all, because it controls every aspect of our lives, including whether or not we get that new job.

Critical Analysis- Computers:The Life Story of a Technology- Part 2

So after reading the last half of the book, Computers: The Life Story of a Technology, by Eric G. Swedin and David L. Ferro, I have come to the conclusion that it is much more interesting than the first half of the book.  Perhaps, maybe this is due to the fact that second half of the book tells a story of computers that takes place in more recent times. As a result, I found that it was easier to imagine these computers and relate to the processes of designing and building them. As the story progressed closer and closer to today, I found myself reminiscing of what it was like when our family got our first personal computer and what it was like to use it for the very first time. Soon after, another memory popped into my head that had me instantly laughing- the use of dial up to log onto the Internet. Today, this technology seems so mundane and outdated but just a decade or two ago it was cutting edge. Something I found really interesting was when and how the Internet was first developed. According to the book, the first form of Internet was actually referred to as the ARPAnet and was developed in 1969 by the military (113-116). I'd never realized that the first form of Internet even existed that early in the development of computers. It is hard to imagine that the network started out consisting of just four nodes and that by 2000, the network, which was by then the Internet, increased to more than 51% of US households (132). I'm sure today, being 10 years later, that number has increased even more. I was also intrigued to read about how Apple Computers and Microsoft came to be. Both of these companies have had such a big influence on the direction that computers have taken and their future. Since the increase in knowledge of computers in the last 10-20 years, technology has constantly changed which makes things obsolete even after only a year.  It will be interesting to see the results in the next decades coming. As a society, we do not know what life is like anymore without technology. It shapes our everyday lives and how we interact. We no longer use the telephone anymore, nevermind mail letters. Email on our laptops and texting on our smart phones have replaced the need to even speak. While this may be in many ways convenient, it is also very dangerous in that we cannot thoroughly communicate our emotions through text. Computers have also made us somewhat lazy, and we tend to take the easy way out.

Critical Analysis- Computers:The Life Story of a Technology- Part 1

Throughout the history of mankind, humans have always looked for ways to improve their everyday lives, ways in which make their days all a little bit simpler. The book, Computers: The Life Story of a Technology, written by Eric G Swedin and David L. Ferro, presents a fantastic example of how the human race has continually strived to perfect technology. The authors describe the history of how computers come to be in present day, dating back to 35,000 BCE when the first notched bones were used for counting (xi).

Computers: The Life Story of a Technology, illustrates the importance that people and culture have placed upon technology. Throughout the centuries, humans haven't just settled on one or two inventions to fit their needs, the envelope has been very frequently pushed to create bigger and better machines. Computers weren't just developed out of the blue, they were derived from inventions such as the abacus and adding machines, which soon became electronic calculators. In 1890, Herman Hollerith created the Tabulating Machine which was used to tally census results. The machine became so successful that in 1896, Hollerith established the Tabulating Machine Company which later became the company we all know today, IBM. Over the next many decades, IBM became one of the biggest players in developing super computers (21-23).  Though IBM is a major contributor to the development of computers, the idea of the first all electronic computer was derived from the US military. In 1943, an electronic calculating machine was built named Mark I, and in 1945, the ENIAC, which consisted of 49 foot cabinets, 18 vacuum tubes, and weighed 30 tons, was built  (38-43). Not only does this show that the military played a major role in the development of computers, but this also shows that improvements were made each year as newer computers came out. Additionally, it illustrates that computers have come a long way from what they are today.

While some might find this read a bit boring, I actually found it to be quite interesting. Before now, I'd never really known too much about where the idea of a computer even came from or how one was developed. I feel that computers are very much taken for granted in our society, especially with younger generations who have always had such technology in their lives. I am part of one of the last generations that was born and went to elementary school at a time when the average person had no PC or Internet. I still remember playing on the old school Apple computers that had floppy disk drives and no color. It is clear from the book that the invention of the computer in the early years was intended clearly for war and mathematical purposes, and not so much for the use of word processing and especially not for recreational use like today.

Introduction & Reaction to Internet

My name is Jocelyn, and I'm in my 5th year at Rutgers, set to graduate this January which I am very excited about. I chose to take Technology & Culture as an elective because of the rave reviews on ratemyprofessor.com (haha). Despite the fact that public speaking scares me to death, though I have done it many times, this class seems like it will be very interesting.


After logging my Internet usage for the past three days, I have realized that I definitely make inadequate use of my time online and in general. Only about a quarter of my time online was spent on school related websites, where the rest of the time was spent mostly refreshing Facebook. Time was also spent on shopping websites. Keeping track of my time online has made me realize that I need to maybe reorganize my schedule/routine. I also never realized how much I rely on the Internet to survive everyday life. Even when boredom strikes and I'm too lazy to get to my computer, I can always just grab my phone nearby and check Facebook from there. This is both a bad thing and a good thing. Bad, in that technology and the Internet has made us lazy and distracted, and good, in that we are always connected and have access to any information we need in a matter of seconds.


The process of creating this blog was sort of tough for me, but I eventually figured it out. I consider myself technologically challenged for a reason. I mean, I'm not that bad but still, I'm definitely not the best when it comes to figuring out new forms of technology and communication. I'm new to this blogging thing if you don't count Facebook so this is different for me. I probably wouldn't blog for recreation, but that's just me. The experience definitely can't hurt.