|
I think there's a lot to be said regarding Timezone's comment. Not in the Times article, unfortunately.... But for those dismissing the point of view that our technology effects us I would refer you to the book "Technopoly" by Neil Postman or the work of Marshall McLuhan.
Saying that we are changed or modified by technology isn't saying such a thing is necessarily negative, but it absolutely does change us. And not always for the best.
You may have heard the story about the village in Africa where the women went a very long way to get water every day. A relief organization came in and dug a well so that they could easily access water in the village without spending a lot of time doing it. The villages cohesion began to break down, people were fighting, things were going badly... after some investigation it was clear that the reason was that when the women were going to get water they spent a lot of time talking and working out the problems of the village (interpersonal problems, etc) and without this conduit interpersonal problems were soon getting out of hand.
Also... for something less anecdotal... history is quite clear. The printing press changed EVERYTHING. And writing itself changed things.
|