“Five things we need to know about technological change”

“Five Ideas to Know about Technological Change” By Niel Postman reads like a philosophical duality article on five main changes technology and technical advances will bring about. Postman first argues that tech is an immense trade-off for a cultural society. They are minimizing religious sensibility to a “form of fanciful superstition.” or how the automobile industry contributed to smog formation, respiratory diseases, and climate change. With every advantage, there is a disadvantage. And the penalties may exceed the benefits. Postman’s second idea focuses on how technologies are never equally distributed among the population and don’t benefit a population equally. From his Anti-capitalistic idealogy, he references corporate greed and how massive corporations can and will use technology to manipulate. The third idea falls on the unlying power technology holds primarily from a political standpoint. Technology, can be used to disseminate information, shape public opinion, and influence political outcomes. Political leaders and organizations leverage these platforms to mobilize supporters and gain power. Fourthly, Postman states that technological change is not additive but ecological. An example that is brought up is dropping red dye into a bleaker of clear water. And now the water molecules are intertwined with the red dye. Throughout history, humanity has never been cautious about technical innovations, which tend to be exploited for personal benefits and monetary gain. Lastly, Postman references how technology tends to become a “mythic.” Technology, ironically, has become a natural way of life and is integrated with our society; therefore, we do not get the urge to question its motives. And our belief in it can be a “false Absolute.”

Postman’s overall view on technology stems from a pessimistic point of view and a paranoid one, too. He is too reluctant to appreciate the value technology has brought to the modern world and the connections it has allowed billions of people to experience daily. Maybe because I’m a “Gen Zer,” the first generation to grow up with technology, I don’t see technology as an impending doom but something that could make our struggling lives slightly more accessible.