Response Number 2

1. “It leads to my second qualification. As the spirit of Thamus reminds us, tools have a way of intruding on even the most unified set of cultural beliefs. There are limits to the power of both theology and metaphysics, and technology has business to do which sometimes cannot be stayed by any force. ” (Postman, 26)

2. Literally – In this particular passage, I feel that Postman is speaking about how technology is an unstoppable force. It has been proven time and time again, that new technologies, whether they end up impacting society in a positive or negative way, will move forward. Theoretical sciences can only take some things so far, and the idea that a technology will have a negative effect overall, may not stop that technology from being utilized anyway.

Intellectually – This passage makes me think of many things. One that comes to mind based off of some societal analysis a few friends and I shared recently, is the introduction of digital forms of audio media. There are arguments for both sides of the argument as to whether or not the advent of digital media has been a  positive or negative thing for the world of music. Some might say that the sheer convenience of being able to have “1000 songs in your pocket”, as the late Steve Jobs put it, is something that simply can’t be passed up on. Some true audiophiles argue though, that the diminished sound quality, from the compression of MP3 files, are enough of a drawback to stick to analog media such as vinyls. Regardless of the arguments made for and against the technologies, the technology advanced and as we know, optical media is dead and digital reigns supreme among the masses. Technology, sometimes, “cannot be stayed by any force”.

Emotionally – Of the text that was required to read to do this response, this was the bit of information that I agreed with the most. A vast majority of what was stated, goes against what I believe related the the topics discussed.  For the most part this passage makes me feel a sense of total agreement. When a new technology is being introduced, the masses often tend to overlook the possible negative effects of the new technology. As a person who likes to keep myself on the cutting edge of technology of all sorts, I like to look at new technology in this way. “Do I need it?”, “Will I use it?”, “Is it an improvement over what is already in place?”, and lastly, but perhaps most importantly, “What are the drawbacks?”. I feel that if more people looked at new technology in this way the epidemics of negative technology sweeping the world in the way that they tend to do, would at the very least slow.