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.