Response 5

Manuel Castells: “Occupy Wall Street”

“A worldwide shift in revolutionary tactics is underway right now that bodes well for the future. [There is a] spirit of this fresh tactic, a fusion of with the acampadas of Spain.

The beauty of this new formula… is its pragmatic simplicity: we talk to each other in various physical gatherings and virtual people’s assemblies. We zero in on what our one demand will be, a demand that awakens the imagination and, if achieved, would propel us toward the radical democracy of the future … and then we go out and seize a square of singular symbolic significance and put our asses on the line to make it happen.” (Castells 159)

Literally– Castells describes a change in the worldwide methods of protest. There was less confusion and more understanding. People would speak to one another, decide on a common goal and act upon it.

Intellectually–This passage makes me think of the amount of change that could be made when people unite.

Emotionally–This makes me feel confident in what can be accomplished when people have a common goal and work only towards accomplishing it.

Lewis Mumford: “The Automation of Knowledge”

“Most of our fellow citizens, unless they are threatened with the loss of their jobs, are not ready to question the inevitability of eventual total automation. Not only do they look forward—as all reasonable men should— to the transference of much burdensome, servile labor to the machine, but they are equally eager to turn as many other human functions as possible over to machines, fascinated, indeed abjectly hypnotized, by their superior accuracy, their fantastic rapidity, their staggered productivity.” (Mumford 264)

Literally–Mumford is saying that few people are thinking about the control they are giving up to technology. Due to the desire to get rid of the most simple takes, there is little questioning of the price that is being paid.

Intellectually–It make me think about the new ATMs that are being put in Chase banks. These machines have since taken the place of tellers. For older individuals and those that are less inclined to use technology, this is a great inconvenience. It is also the start of some of the simplest jobs being turned over to machines.

Emotionally–This scares me because there is no guarantee that there will be many jobs available once I leave college.