Friday, August 5, 2016
Predictions
I had a discussion the other day with my sister who has also taken this class many years ago and has graduated from college over Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, and we both came to the conclusion that it is amazing how Postman was able to illustrate his opinion over the rise of technology at a time when there was so little technology. He was able to apply more to our lives today where our lives are now practically overrun with technology. Postman published this book in the mid 1980's when he noticed the transition from old traditions to technology in what he calls the "ascendancy of the Age of Television." This just goes to show how the introduction of new technology can sway the people into mindlessly following along. If the introduction of the television can lead to what we have today and have been predicted by someone from the past, it is interesting to think about what predictions made today will prove to be accurate in the upcoming future. Maybe our society will turn into that similar of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and technology will control us.
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I agree with you on how fascinating it is for someone to have predicted the ascendancy of television and how it would control our lives. For the person to also live in the times where technology was only beginning to take shape. However, I'd like to correct you in the fact that Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is not how technology controls us, but how our ideas will control us. Their lust for stability led to the destruction for literature and freedom. In fact, they would even hide new scientifical discoveries, as stated in chapter 15, rather than incorporating it into their society. This was done in order to keep the stability thar they so wanted.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, the auhor of Brave New World lived very long ago. He did not see the effects of the rapid technological advancements had on people. All he saw was the struggle of power in the World Wars and the Cold War, in which people wanted stability. I think Huxley wrote what he thought would happen in the future in accordance to what he and his people felt was necessary, along with some odd details, of course.