222 lines
13 KiB
HTML
222 lines
13 KiB
HTML
|
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
|
|||
|
|
<html>
|
|||
|
|
<head>
|
|||
|
|
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
|
|||
|
|
<title></title>
|
|||
|
|
<meta name="generator" content="LibreOffice 6.0.5.2 (Linux)"/>
|
|||
|
|
<meta name="created" content="2018-01-05T14:03:39.991112897"/>
|
|||
|
|
<meta name="changed" content="2018-05-25T17:47:52.105174363"/>
|
|||
|
|
<style type="text/css">
|
|||
|
|
@page { margin: 1in }
|
|||
|
|
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
|
|||
|
|
a:link { so-language: zxx }
|
|||
|
|
</style>
|
|||
|
|
</head>
|
|||
|
|
<body lang="en-US" dir="ltr">
|
|||
|
|
<div title="header">
|
|||
|
|
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.2in; line-height: 100%">POSTMAN
|
|||
|
|
FREUD <sdfield type=PAGE subtype=RANDOM format=PAGE>0</sdfield></p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Technobabble
|
|||
|
|
and Civilization</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Postman
|
|||
|
|
and Freud</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Joseph
|
|||
|
|
J. Green</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Northern
|
|||
|
|
Arizona University</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%; page-break-before: always">
|
|||
|
|
<font face="Times New Roman, serif"> Sigmund Freud and Neil Postman
|
|||
|
|
have many theories relating to civilization and technology. In Neil
|
|||
|
|
Postman’s “The Judgement of Thamus in his book Technopoly: The
|
|||
|
|
Surrender of Culture to Technology has quite a bit to say on the
|
|||
|
|
relationship between civilization and technology. Sigmund Freud in
|
|||
|
|
his book Civilization and Its Discontents, discusses much about the
|
|||
|
|
growth of civilization and also touches on how technology has an
|
|||
|
|
effect on civilization.</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> In
|
|||
|
|
“The Judgement of Thamus,” Postman touches on the idea that
|
|||
|
|
technology is neither good nor bad for society, but that it is both
|
|||
|
|
good and bad. It adds as well as detracts from culture. This chapter
|
|||
|
|
opens with him discussing the story of the king Thamus talking to the
|
|||
|
|
god Theuth, an inventor. Theuth had creating writing and he was happy
|
|||
|
|
to expose how amazing the technology is and how much it will benefit
|
|||
|
|
man kind. Theuth spoke of the wonders of storing and sharing wisdom
|
|||
|
|
and memory through this invention. Thamus countered him by stating
|
|||
|
|
that an inventor doesn’t know that his technology is good or bad,
|
|||
|
|
that an inventor is inherently biased towards his invention. Thamus
|
|||
|
|
specifically discredited the idea of writing by stating that he
|
|||
|
|
believed that this invention of writing will encourage people to stop
|
|||
|
|
practicing memory and become more forgetful, and that it will cause
|
|||
|
|
people to depend on external things as a device to aid in
|
|||
|
|
recollection. He further complains that writing will help wisdom and
|
|||
|
|
memory spread, which isn’t inherently bad, but by doing so, people
|
|||
|
|
who do not fully understand the wisdom of the words without proper
|
|||
|
|
instruction, they will be “filled with the conceit of wisdom
|
|||
|
|
instead of real wisdom” (Postman, 1993). As we know, writing has
|
|||
|
|
opened up an incredible amount of opportunity for humanity, but it is
|
|||
|
|
also clear that we have lost some things, such as memory, but the
|
|||
|
|
gains have been immense. Postman also claims that technology really
|
|||
|
|
needs to be looked at from both sides. He even admits that he often
|
|||
|
|
looks for the dissenting opinion when looking at new technologies,
|
|||
|
|
but feels that it is important to show reasonable counter to
|
|||
|
|
optimism. Furthermore, he finds that technologies are often adopted
|
|||
|
|
without much realization and results in new technologies, the
|
|||
|
|
winners, beckoning people of old technology, the losers, to join in
|
|||
|
|
with them. Espousing all the benefits of the new versus the old.</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> In
|
|||
|
|
Civilization and its Discontents Freud tries to explain some of the
|
|||
|
|
actions of why people do what they do, how people have come to how
|
|||
|
|
they are, and, especially, how to obtain the happiness that people
|
|||
|
|
seek. Throughout this work Freud makes many claims. He finds that
|
|||
|
|
people evolve much like cities. Over the course of time, cities are
|
|||
|
|
demolished, burned down, or simply destroyed and rebuilt slowly over
|
|||
|
|
time during peace. He specifically mentions how ancient cities that
|
|||
|
|
still exist are largely built upon ruins of itself. Some of these
|
|||
|
|
things go away completely, but most stay either hidden or adapted
|
|||
|
|
into the works and buildings that go on in the city. These things
|
|||
|
|
become something new, yet maintain something old. He says this in
|
|||
|
|
human memories and physiology. He explains how puberty results in the
|
|||
|
|
loss of the thymus gland and that it is replaced by connective
|
|||
|
|
tissue, and how an adults completed bone contains the child hood bone
|
|||
|
|
that had been there before it, and how new experiences and,
|
|||
|
|
specifically, memories of experiences merge and form new thoughts
|
|||
|
|
that bring people to who they are at the present. Much like cities.
|
|||
|
|
Freud also found that, however civilization is defined, protections
|
|||
|
|
are sought from dangers that come from the suffering that comes from
|
|||
|
|
its own civilization. This seems particularly interesting given the
|
|||
|
|
fact that we know it is true, at least at a basic level. For example,
|
|||
|
|
civilization started herding animals that lead to the creation of,
|
|||
|
|
and increased spread of, new diseases which we then needed to protect
|
|||
|
|
ourselves against ("Humans Change the World", 2016). Freud
|
|||
|
|
also, like Postman, found that technology doesn’t so much bring
|
|||
|
|
happiness as it brings change to humanity where good and bad both
|
|||
|
|
take place, not simply one or the other. Specifically, Freud mentions
|
|||
|
|
how if certain technology didn’t get created, other technology
|
|||
|
|
wouldn’t be needed to maintain happiness. If the locomotive never
|
|||
|
|
carried people across continents, people would likely have stayed
|
|||
|
|
closer to home more often which would remove the need for long
|
|||
|
|
distance communication in order to solve the anxiety about distant
|
|||
|
|
friends and family. One thing Freud seemed especially insistent about
|
|||
|
|
is that technology brings people closer to godlihood. To make a
|
|||
|
|
primal example, the discovery and control of fire brought <font face="Times New Roman, serif">the
|
|||
|
|
human race from being weak creatures struggling to survive, to a
|
|||
|
|
species with the ability to see the world burn. </font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Freud
|
|||
|
|
also found beauty to be fascinating because of how utterly useless it
|
|||
|
|
is. It does not assist in survival in any obvious way, so our desire
|
|||
|
|
for beauty is a bit of a mystery. He also claims that cleanliness is
|
|||
|
|
also not found in nature, yet humans seem to have a passion for that,
|
|||
|
|
but he did find that order is certainly a part of nature. He finds
|
|||
|
|
order to be incredibly useful for everything that humans do, yet
|
|||
|
|
paradoxically, it’s one of the hardest things to teach people to
|
|||
|
|
pay attention to due to their natural carelessness.</font></font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> These
|
|||
|
|
two writers are certainly very opinionated and clearly have thought
|
|||
|
|
about the issues at hand that they discuss. Both Freud and Postman
|
|||
|
|
seem to agree that technology isn’t a “good or bad” issue, but
|
|||
|
|
a “good and bad” issue. This, to me, is clearly obvious. We see
|
|||
|
|
it today with the introduction of the Internet. I’m one of those
|
|||
|
|
strange kids who was born in the mid 80’s. Born just early enough
|
|||
|
|
to grow up during the transition of the world to the Internet and for
|
|||
|
|
computers to go from things only hobbyists and businessmen used, to
|
|||
|
|
every family having a computer, and finally to every person having an
|
|||
|
|
overpriced super restricted computer they carelessly put in their
|
|||
|
|
pockets. I was particularly interested in computers from a young age,
|
|||
|
|
so I was able to see the transition of society from the eyes of a
|
|||
|
|
person who understood what was actually going on. This alone could be
|
|||
|
|
a paper of its own, but to keep my example brief I will restrict it
|
|||
|
|
to one thing that the Internet has done. It has given us access to a
|
|||
|
|
huge database of jobs where we can find anything we want, anywhere in
|
|||
|
|
the world, and, if we desire and have the ability, take that job and
|
|||
|
|
move to wherever it is. Wonderful, but a huge drawback is the
|
|||
|
|
increased competition. A company may have settled for a local worker
|
|||
|
|
looking to get his start back in the early 90’s, but now many
|
|||
|
|
companies are hoping for talent from anywhere in the country can come
|
|||
|
|
serve them which makes it much harder for people without much
|
|||
|
|
experience to gain it when competition is so steep. I’m also fully
|
|||
|
|
in agreement with much of what Postman has said about technology
|
|||
|
|
sneaking in, taking over, and changing who the winners and losers
|
|||
|
|
are. I don’t believe anyone could have expected the computers or
|
|||
|
|
the Internet to change the world in the profound ways that it has.
|
|||
|
|
Heck, Marion Zimmer Bradley in his book, The Colors of Space,
|
|||
|
|
predicted a futuristic world run by advanced civilizations who fly
|
|||
|
|
around in spaceships, but still use books to navigate space along
|
|||
|
|
side computer that take punchcards and spit out information on paper
|
|||
|
|
(Bradley et al., 2007). At the time the novel was written, this was
|
|||
|
|
the current state of computers, considering other technologies that
|
|||
|
|
existed at the time, I’m surprised the author didn’t think of
|
|||
|
|
something considering other technologies that existed at the time,
|
|||
|
|
such as televisions, but it goes to show that it is incredibly hard
|
|||
|
|
to foresee the future and the effects technology will have on it.
|
|||
|
|
Now, I must disagree with Freud's insistence that beauty is useless.
|
|||
|
|
If we think of its direct practical non-emotional value, it does seem
|
|||
|
|
rather useless. However, when we consider that humans are creative
|
|||
|
|
artful creatures, and that beauty inspires us, it seems to have a
|
|||
|
|
very practical value. Humans see beauty which inspires them for
|
|||
|
|
everything from creating great thing, to reproduction. Even some
|
|||
|
|
animals flaunt pretty colors in an effort to attract mates.</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> Freud
|
|||
|
|
and Postman certainly have many great, well thought out, theories.
|
|||
|
|
Postman fantastically lays out some of the effects of technology and
|
|||
|
|
civilization and poses the warning that we must look at things from
|
|||
|
|
more than one side. Freud seems to share some thoughts with Postman,
|
|||
|
|
but also finds a lot more specific to humans and civilization than
|
|||
|
|
such focus on technology. Both of these men have many theories that
|
|||
|
|
are both agreeable and disagreeable to myself, but to go through
|
|||
|
|
every theory we could write a book. In any case, many great ideas
|
|||
|
|
emanate from great people and we should consider them all to the best
|
|||
|
|
of our ability.</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%; page-break-before: always">
|
|||
|
|
<br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">RESOURCES</font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">
|
|||
|
|
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Bradley, M.,
|
|||
|
|
Simão, A., Smallheer, J., Nelson, M., Savage, K., & Rose, L.
|
|||
|
|
(2007). <i>The Colors of Space</i> [Audio Book]. Retrieved
|
|||
|
|
from
|
|||
|
|
https://librivox.org/the-colors-of-space-by-marion-zimmer-bradley/</font></font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">
|
|||
|
|
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Freud, S.
|
|||
|
|
(1930). <i>Civilization and Its Discontents</i> (pp. 1-99).</font></font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">
|
|||
|
|
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Humans Change the
|
|||
|
|
World. (2016). Retrieved from
|
|||
|
|
http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/humans-change-world</font></font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">
|
|||
|
|
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Postman, N.
|
|||
|
|
(1993). <i>Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to
|
|||
|
|
Technology</i> (1st ed., pp. 1-17). New York: Knopf.</font></font></p>
|
|||
|
|
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</body>
|
|||
|
|
</html>
|