Blog Post 1

In “Five Ideas to Know about Technological Change,” Niel Postman discusses his five ideas that expand on the changes technology and technical advances will bring about. Rather than explaining the advantages, Postman refers to the results and gives warnings that we should be aware of. The first idea is the trade-off of technological change, which discusses how, with every advantage technology offers, there will always be a disadvantage to go along with it. We often neglect to notice the liabilities or disadvantages when we should also think and even mention these concerns. As Postman states, ” culture always pays a price for technology.” The second idea is that new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population. In other words, in what ways would new technologies benefit, harm, or affect anyone? Some may receive large benefits, some may not receive the benefits new technology gives, while others may not benefit from it at all. As Postman states, “There are always winners and losers in technological change,” The third idea goes that every technology has a prejudice in that it makes us favor and value certain perspectives and accomplishments. The fourth idea is that technological change is ecological. To be specific, it’s rather easy for technology to integrate into most of society; it becomes a main part of a culture or society. It can have an impact on culture and can even be used irresponsibly. The fifth and last idea is that technology has become such a natural part of our lives that we often tend to let it control us and even shape our way of thinking into believing whatever is said from there.

The idea that resonated with me the most is the first idea, in that for every advantage technology has, there is always a corresponding disadvantage. This is true especially today, where we see more of AI being integrated and practiced with. For a large part of my life, I always considered the pros and cons of anything, whether it came to schoolwork or personal reasons. AI is no different. From the beginning, I would consider the pros of such technology. It would increase work rates, make it easier to access information, and, overall, improve daily life. However, I also considered the cons. Loss of jobs, the possibility of the spreading of false information (there is always room for errors), and health as well. The fourth and fifth ideas can also be connected to this. There may come a time when AI technology will be so globally used that it will become the norm to have it be part of our culture. In addition, if we become too trusting of it, information, no matter what it may retain, can be falsely given to anyone. And because we are so trusting in said AI technology, we may neglect the fact that there may have been an error. With all these concerns, I believe that it is imperative that we at least keep these five ideas in mind when we move forward with technology, lest it comes back to bite us.