After class today, write at least 250 words summarizing your reading of Bruce Mazlish’s “The Fourth Discontinuity” and our lecture about it. Post your response as a comment made to this blog post before our next meeting.
For next class, remember to take a stab at Derrida’s essay linked on the syllabus. Do a Google Search and see what others have to say about it.We will discuss it during our next meeting.
Bruce Mazlish is a cycle analyst who focuses on histories, theories, and philosophies. He aggregates history and evidence with arguments to define the revolution of the human and nature. In the article of “The Fourth Discontinuity’, Mazlish discourses with four different types of discontinuity. Mazlish indicates which the technology is the motivation to refine the history, humanity makes technologies, and technology makes us. Such correspondence enhances the humanity and technology together. Similar to Mazlish, Sigmund Freud is another guy who provides the concept of which the humanity is most important, and most central compare to other species on the planet. Freud mentioned the term anthropocentrism, which we are a higher level of species compared to others. There are four different variations of discontinuity. The first discontinuity relates to the concept of humanity and earth itself, Copernicus showed it. Previously, we believed that earth was everything. It distinguishes from human’s past concept and evolves recognition. After the first discontinuity, the second discontinuity reveals the truth between beliefs, the second discontinuity revealed by Darwin; he informs which God created the humanity. He illustrated the humanity just like other lives on earth in order to be continuous. After two different discontinuities, humanity starts to question them self-mind. From the third discontinuity, Sigmund Freud mentioned human’s unconscious mind, which is called psychoanalysis. Freud said that our brain isn’t singular, the human has triple mindsets, superego and desires plays an essential role in humanity. It establishes the continuity to mental illness and health, which means our mind functions in the same way. From those discontinuities, technologies have transformed radically. The forth discontinuity is about the humanity and the machine, which associated with artificial intelligence. It creates the ultimate loop between understanding and technology. Human and machine can incorporate development. The artificial intelligence could provide machines with the ability to have consciousness. It can help humanity to develop technology more efficient, and the loop between humankind and technology would repeat endlessly.
Bruce Mazlish was a professor at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a writer, he blended psychoanalysis and history into his works. He was the author of two dozen books, two dozen peer-reviewed journals, and he was crucial in the establishment of the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, which is published by the MIT Press. In today’s class, we analyzed one of his most famous works, “The Fourth Discontinuity: The Co-Evolution of Humans and Machines”. In this book, Mazlish presents the three types of discontinuities and how his own discontinuity relates to the emerging world of technology. The first discontinuity was from renaissance astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, he discovered that planet Earth is not the center of the universe but one part of a universal system, this discovery abolished the idea that humanity is central being in the universe, and we are not as special as we think. The second discontinuity came from the geologist, Charles Darwin, his argument was that the plants and animals around us went through the same type of evolution process and reduced us to just one type of species on planet Earth.The third discontinuity was presented by neurologist Sigmund Freud, he broke down how our ID, ego, and superego controls our very drive, reason, and emotions These three things control our minds and functions more than we will ever know. The fourth discontinuity is presented by Mazlish himself. The idea that humans and gadgets have coalesced together, and it has become an iterative process. When we invent and debut new gadgets those gadgets improve our lives by helping us solve problems, retain human qualities we lose and inspire us to create even better gadgets. These discontinuities really intrigued me because it reminded me of the book âWriting is a Technology That Restructures Thoughtâ by Walter J Ong, in that text Ong argued that writing was changing the way humans think because we would be attached to words. I think reading and writing has changed the way we think about each other, the other beings around us, and the relationship we share with technology. We have developed habits with gadgets and rely on them extensively, in the process we grew numb to overexposure until it harms our health physically and mentally.
The Fourth Discontinuity by Bruce Mazlish opens by discussing a cartoon in the magazine called The New Yorker, where a computer sends a message to two scientist saying âI think, therefore I amâ. By opening with this line Mazlish lays out what the fourth discontinuity is: humans relationship with technology. In the case of the article a discontinuity is the ability to show that humanity is not at the center as much as weâd like to think.
As Mazlish points out he is not the first to find or rather prove the fact that humanity is not at the center. The first to do this was Copernicus. During Copernicus time it was thought that the earth was at the center of the solar system, which meant that everything revolved around the earth. However Copernicus was able to prove that this was wrong. Rather than being at the center of the solar system the earth was a part of it, making humanity not as important as first thought.
The second discontinuity was discovered by Charles Darwin. Darwin showed that humanity evolved like anything else on the planet, and they were not special.The third discontinuity was discovered by Sigmund Freud. Freud found that there were three layers to the brain and that humanity was in a constant fight with themselves on trying not to act on animal instinct. This showed that humanity was not as smart as they thought.
The fourth discontinuity show that humanity and technology are not that much different. Humanity would like to believe that they are different from the things that they create. This idea is disproven over and over again due to the fact that as technology advance it advances humanity as well. In short technology remakes humanity and humanity remake it. For example the more humanity uses technology the more it changes how humanity thinks.
With each discover of a discontinuity the further humanity moves from anthropocentrism or the idea that humanity is at the center.
Bruce Mazlish was a historian and professor at MIT. Like Dr. Kline at Stanford, Dr. Mazlish also specialized in the interdisciplinarity of science and the humanities. He felt that we could be better human beings if we could glean moral lessons and a sense of perspective from the humanities and apply them to the science and technology fields. His work was âemblematizedâ- that is, it represented the idea of the connection between STEM and the humanities. He also specialized in psychoanalysis, the history of technology and humanities, and wrote about how technology and humans interacted. To that end, he wrote one of his most important works: âThe Fourth Discontinuity: The Co-Evolution of Humans and Machines,â of which we read an excerpt.
In this passage, Dr. Mazlish outlines how we as humans are on a spectrum of continuity with everything in the universe- a concept that has been upsetting to people throughout history, because we have the tendency to sublimate ourselves to a level above everything else around us, and it is this egocentric view that causes a feeling of isolation. He elaborates on the fact that we are actually continuous with the technology that we create, and that that is a reassuring and amazing thing; something that should foster a feeling of unity and not something to be feared or condemned.
Dr. Mazlish first explains what the first three discontinuities are to us, so that we may contemplate the fourth. The first is that, prior to Copernicus, people had believed in a geocentric universe; Copernicus proposed that actually it was the sun that was the center of the universe, making the earth just another piece of it. The second was the fact that prior to Charles Darwin, we accepted Creationism as the explanation for our existence, which elevated us to extensions of God. Darwin proved that we actually descended from apes and so this showed how humans were really part of, and not above, the rest of the animal kingdom. The third discontinuity was part of the world of psychoanalysis, and how humans believed we could control everything we did. To the contrary, Dr. Sigmund Freud said that we donât even have agency over our own instincts, but rather are governed by a tripartite mind- the id (the base, primal instincts), the superego (the part adhering to rules and mores), and the ego (a consequence of the struggle between the first two). If all minds are alike and no one brain is able to escape from these urges, then any mind may be corrupted or damaged. Finally, the fourth discontinuity is how man believes he is dissimilar to machines and technology. However, Dr. Mazlish shows that man is continuous with the tools and technology he has created; in fact, humans and technology have a feedback loop in which one does not exist without the other. We make cool tech, and then that tech allows us to do more work that wouldnât be possible without it, and in turn, we are then influenced to make even cooler tech; this is also known as escalation.
We have a co-evolution with technology; it augments our lives and abilities. Just as Dr. Ong said that writing changes our brains, Dr. Mazlish is saying that technology changes our lives- weâre freed up to do deep thinking and problem solving, rather than more mundane tasks like remembering. Through repetitive iterations wherein technology allows us to keep creating more technology, we improve ourselves as we improve it. Technology is just another type of mediation, a means by which we interact with the world, just as we use our other sensesâsmell, sight, touch, tasteâto interact with the world.
Human beings are quite the ego-centric creatures. We tend to be anthropocentric in thinking that humanity is the center of the universe or at least the most important thing in the universe. A discontinuity is when there is a break in this idea. In Bruce Mazlishâs article âThe Fourth Discontinuityâ, he explores four major discontinuities. The first involves earth and the heavenly bodies above. Nicolaus Copernicus figured out that our solar system revolves around the sun and not the earth, contrary to popular belief. Humans believed that everything revolved around us until Copernicusâ discovery. The second involves man and animals. Humans were under the belief that God specifically created humans until Darwin suggested that we were not made by the divine but instead were nothing more than descendants of animals and apes. Another blow to the anthropocentric beliefs. The third discontinuity deals with man and the mind. Freud suggested that human beings are not in control of their own mind and it is not unitary but triparthied. It is composed of three parts, the Id, the superego, and the ego, and these three parts are constantly at war with each other. Man is not even in control of his own mind. The fourth and final discontinuity comes from Mazlish himself and has to do with man and machine. He suggests that humanity is continuous with their technology because it changes and augments us as a species entirely. Humanity makes technology and our technology makes or alters us. We continue to create newer and more advanced technology which in turn helps us to create even better and more advanced technology and the cycle continues on and on.
TO: Professor Dr. Jason W. Ellis
FROM: Ronald C. Hinds
DATE: March 01, 2018
SUBJECT: The Fourth Discontinuity: The Co-Evolution of Humans and Machines
Professor Bruce Mazlish of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, in a provocative manner, explores the divide, as an interdisciplinary mission, between the humanities and science in âThe Fourth Discontinuity: The Co-Evolution of Humans and Machines.â He predicted an eventual fusion of the two into âsomething like a new species,â that which today, we call “singularity.” It is the concept of continuity that aligns man with the machines and tools, which man constructs, and of which man sometimes seems to be an extension. What does separate man from the others who make up the animal kingdom? Is manâs brain analogous to a thinking machine? Man may think much of himself and/or herself but should not belive in any uniqueness from either the tenuous whole of his species, along his revolutionary continuum, or his relationship with his own creations, such as his tools and machines. Man is not as imperious, vis-a-vis machines, as once thought. So any notion of discontinuity should be dumped in the ash heap of history. The fact of the matter is that man and machines have co-evolved.
I am fascinated by the work of Dr. Sherwood Larned Washburn, emeritus professor of anthropology and pioneering primatologist, at the University of California at Berkeley, who linked the evolution of human behaviorial traits to the actions of apes and monkeys. Among Washburn’s teachings was that hunting, tool use, gender division and the division of labor between the sexes were critical events in human evolution. He also was the first to suggest, four decades ago, that humans evolved from primates that walked on their knuckles.
Bruce Mazlish takes us through an historic period linking the revolutionary ideas of Copernicus to Darwin to Freud as a seamless transition to reinforce his notion of continuity, along with extrapolations from not only these and other sources, but classic literature as well.
References
Mazlish, B. (1993). The Fourth Discontinuity: The Co-Evolution of Humans and Machines.
http://about.jstor.org/terms. Downloaded on 22 February 2018.
Vitello, P. (2016). âBruce Mazlish, who fused psychoanalysis and history in his books, dies at 93.â Obit. Section. New York Times. 29 November, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/books/bruce-mazlish-richard-nixon.htm. Downloaded on 28 February, 2018.
Washburn, S. (2000). âSherwood Washburn, father of modern primatology.
http://www.berkeleyan@pa.urel.berkeley.edu. Downloaded on 28 February, 2018.
In the article âThe Fourth Discontinuityâ by Bruce Mazlish, he discusses man and machine. We, as the machines creators, are able to create machines that are almost exactly the same as humans; the almost being the most crucial point in the difference between us. Humans are born with an innate ability to think and feel on our own accord. Machines are programmed to carry out whatever function it is they are programmed to. Machines will never deviate, unless a malfunction occurs, which is the fundamental difference between man and machine: choice. We are beings of freewill, not restricted by programs. An interesting point is raised by Samuel Butler, in his book âErewhonâ he says âsee what strides machines have made in the last thousand! May not the world last twenty million years longer? If so, what will they not in the end become? Is it not safer to nip the mischief in the bud and to forbid them further progress?â Butler sees the potential danger in the strides machine can take in order to not just surpass humans but eradicate us. As much as a crackpot theory that sounds like, maybe we should consider some credence to the possibility. Humans are so consumed with the idea that we are the most dominant and intelligent beings on Earth that we donât see the potential danger that we are creating and evolving. Manâs ego has gotten in the way before of so many truths from being accepted: Copernicus, Darwin and Freud. To deny these truths, and now the fourth discontinuityâs, is to still believe that man is the most important being in the world. To believe that we are superior to machines is asinine. All we have to do is look around and see just how much technology has become such an integral part of us to accept that current man is nothing without these technologies. As said during the lecture âhumanity makes technology and technology makes us.â Yet, what happens if the machines acquire their own sense of will? This question is such a difficult thing to answer that maybe a sense of ignorance isnât the worst thing considering the terrible ever so likely scenario that Butler posits.
Bruce Mazlish was a professor in the Department of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He worked on the psychoanalysis of technology, science, and history. His ideas and theories come from Greek influence in which he often questions society and norms. From his âThe Fourth Discontinuityâ, Mazlish writes âThe evidence seems strong today that man evolved from the other animals into humanity through a continuous interaction of tool, physical, and mental-emotional changes(p4).â In other words, Mazlish believes technology and humanity are continuous. Therefore, technology over time will expand and modify us. Although he was unquestionably strong with his feelings on Mary Shelley’s infamous story âFrankensteinâ, Mazlish also viewed technology as humanâs creature. From his research, Mazlish understood people create technology while technology also makes mankind.
Influenced by other discontinuities that state mankind is apart of the natural world, he also challenges that notion in stating people and technology are intertwined. Before discontinuities, anthropocentrism dominated popular belief in which humans are most important and the only holders of morals. Influences of thought included Copernicus, an astronomer thinker. His work included the notion that earth was not at the center of the universe. His theory noted that humans are part of a natural world. Man were only a small object in a massive spectrum of life. Darwin, who infamously contributed to science with evolution theory, believed humans are part of the animal kingdom. Humans, therefore, are closely related to monkeys. Sigmund Freud, another great psychoanalysis, provided the idea that mankind has a three-part brain that struggles in a portion known as the ID. The highest level of our thought is known as the Superego. This portion is based on rules, customs, restrictions, and laws. Our mind is also driven by our Ego, which takes part in any urges and desires. This part of our brain controls us. In addition, mankind has animal instincts. Principally, these portions are always in tension with one other. Yet at any given time, any section of our mind can be damaged by illness. Mazlish took the extensive research by these men and began to view the other aspects that control our lives. Technology and its impact on human life have influenced the fourth discontinuity. Man’s pride, he noted, has a distrust of technology. Yet over time, technology has expanded and changed our daily lives. Our brains are now used in myriad ways. Since memory is recorded by written words, it has changed how science and history are studied. Today’s digital age contributes to works currently being created through software on computers. Technology since then has changed to suit numerous needs. Mazlish also agrees that a tradeoff of skills occurred between handwritten work and societyâs adaptation of learning new technical skills. As a result, technology and humans are interconnected.
Ultimately, technology has become a vast part of our lives. Technology could be as small as a clay tablet with a rock used to create marks or an advanced essay typed on a smartphone. This reading was also showed an advancement of technology and its effects on language from the class previous readings.
Bruce Mazlish, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote the âFourth Discontinuityâ which argued that human beings and technology are converging in the present day. Mazlish brings his book to life with history, science, and science fiction to demonstrate the complex relationship between man and machine. According to Mazlish, it is now necessary to cease the fourth discontinuity to separate humans from the machines. He believes that people and machines have evolved with each other, and in doing so have shaped each other.
Mazlish mentions three mental discontinuities that the homo sapiens have overcome. The first being when Nicolaus Copernicus stated the earth rotated around the sun, and not the other way around, thus proposing a heliocentric theory. Second being when Charles Darwin introduced the theory of natural selection and evolution. Third being when Sigmund Freud introduced human beings as physiological and psychological entities with the separation of our âconsciousâ and âsubconsciousâ.
Mazlish argued that just as Freud, Copernicus, and Darwin broke our illusions of being the dominant species over the animal world, the unconscious and the galaxy, he will break our illusion of dominance over technology. Fourth Discontinuity is breaking the belief that people and machines are separate. Many people can be incapable of comprehending or accepting that the breaching of the fourth discontinuity is at this point in time. There is no present divide between human beings and artificial intelligence or technology. Both Machines and Humans have differences, but the similarities are increasing with no strict division. His belief in the crossing of the Fourth Discontinuity is broken down into two parts. Firstly, He states that human without machines is no longer a possible reality. Secondly, The concepts or paradigms he suggests, explain the workings of the artificial mechanisms and human beings together.
Mazlish supports his claims, with highly regarded history, including the research of Fred and Pavlov, presenting mechanistic aspects of behavior. As well as including a chronicle of automata, and my favorite reading being Samuel Butler’s who theorized the coming of computers and bio genetic technology.
Bruce Mazlish was an American historian and a professor at the Massachusetts institute of technology. In his essay âThe fourth discontinuityâ he talks about the number of âdiscontinuityâ humanity went through. The first discontinuity was from Copernicus when he said that earth is not at the center of the universe, but we revolve around the sun. this showed humanity that we arenât that special, and we werenât chosen by god to be put in a position, however we part of something bigger. The second discontinuity was from Charles Darwin and he stated that humanity didnât just emerge, but we evolved from animals. This showed that humanity wasnât given no divine right to appear out of nowhere, we appeared from animals. The third discontinuity was brought about by Sigmund Freud when he argued that the human mind has three parts, the Id, super ego and ego, and they all keep each other in check. What this showed us was that through Freudâs psychoanalysis we can see that we donât have complete control over our own minds. The fourth and last discontinuity was brought about by Mazlish himself and he said that man and machine, all our inventions are continuous. Mazlish means that all the technology that we make further us and in turn we will further technology and so forth. In our in class discussion we spoke about the iterative process, a process that keeps changing us. This can be said for the fourth discontinuity. Also we made a connection between Mazlish and Freud and it was said that because of our ego the fourth discontinuity emerged to help aid in our survival
Jessica L. Roman
ENG 1710
3/1/2018
Bruce Mazlish was Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mazlish endeavored to use his interdisciplinary interest to bridge the humanities with science and technology. In his essay âThe Fourth Discontinuityâ Mazlish goes to great lengths to present what be refers to as discontinuities or the three major blows to manâs ego and frames his position on the fourth. The first discontinuity was Copernicusâs proposition of the heliocentric system, stating that we are continuous with the rest of the universe and not the center of it. The second discontinuity came with Darwin with his debunking of ideas held of creationism and man as specially created in the image of their god. The third discontinuity was introduced with Freud and our partitioned psyche, explaining that we are not the masters of our own mind or doing. These discontinuities to the universe, the animal kingdom and our mind were created by human kind as an explanation of our supposed innate superiority. The fourth discontinuity as presented by Mazlish has to do with our technology, technology has historically been looked at with a level of suspicion and we would go to great lengths to state we are discontinues from our technology. Just as Ong explained that our writing technology changes how we think, Mazlishâs position is that our technology changes how we think, functional and communicate. This in turn changes our technology, which will then continue to change us in a feedback cycle. There is a fear that our technology and advancements will change us, and they do, with both pros and cons. In our first reading of the semester, Chiang presents what seems like it could happen the near future technologies and demonstrates how it could affect our abilities such as spelling but frees us space for other function, Ong tells us how wiring changes our thoughts and mnemonic abilities but that strengthen our critical and analytical thinking. Just the same, our technology will continue to shape us and our cognitive abilities, strengthening some areas and weakening others, but it is not necessarily something that should be feared.
Bruce Mazlish was a psychoanalyst and a historian who combined the two to do psychological studies on historical figures. He wrote several books but one of his most famous books was âIn search of Nixon,â where he tries to figure out why Nixon behaved the way he did. He was a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he taught history. His first article was âThe Fourth Discontinuityâ which he later turned into a book. In this article, he describes the continuity between man and the machine and what he means by the fourth discontinuity. He also talks about four different types of discontinuities. In order for us to understand what he means by discontinuity, he uses Jerome Bruner to define it in which Bruner states âemphasis on breaks or gaps in the phenomena of nature – for example, a stress on the sharp differences between physical bodies in the heavens or on earth or between one form of animal matter and another â instead of an emphasis on its continuity.â In other words, discontinuity means to be disconnected or separate from the world. Each of the four discontinuities were pointed out and reviewed by Copernicus, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, and Mazlish himself. The first discontinuity was presented by Freud, which was presented by Copernicus who was an astronomer and a thinker. In this discontinuity, Copernicus shows us that we are not the center of everything. The earth is not the center of everything as we have thought. As a result, we see that it makes humanity seem much smaller and that our place is much smaller as well. The second discontinuity was presented by Charles Darwin who build on his grandfatherâs work. Darwin showed us that God did not create us; instead, humanity is more like the animal kingdom where we evolved to be the way that we are. Our life on earth is continuous instead of being discontinuous, that we are not separate. Sigmund Freud pointed out the third discontinuity. In Freudâs discontinuity, he states that our mind is made up of three parts called a tripartite mind. These three parts are in a constant battle with each other. Our other part of the mind is where it is based on desires and animal instincts. This part of the mind is called the id. Freud also states that all minds are the same. No mind is better than the other. The fourth discontinuity is by Bruce Mazlish himself. In this discontinuity, it is between man and machine. Mazlish argues that the technology we built is changing us. We make technology, and in turn, it makes us. This new technology is used and dealt with by us on an everyday basis.
Bruce Mazlish spend most of his career in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a historian and psychoanalyst. Mazlish focused on historical and psychoanalytical field of interdisciplinary studies. He has brought the technology aspect and showed how important technology is because technology gives us the history. In his writing titled, “The Fourth Discontinuity”, states that humanity is all that matters, that the people are important because they are the important piece of the universe, that universe is not more important. His theory states that machines are only a device without humanity there would be no machines or new technologies. Mazlishs’ thesis states that man is on the threshold of breaking past the discontinuity between the man itself and the machines.
In his writing, is said that there is a feedback loop, the discontinuity is becoming something big. He analyses on Darwin, Fraud and Copernic as those three are very significant figures. In his writing he mentioned Fraud whom believed the idea of human beings in dependable and that humanity is central or more important on the world. Due to Copernic’s’ discovery of our Earth going around the solar system rather having its own solar system. Copernic has then proofed that there is no discontinuity. In addition, Darwin also showed that there is discontinuity in nature as well, in the evolution and animals. He has established how was humanity made, continues with other things on the planet.
Lastly, what makes humans and animals differ from one another is the fact that humans are able to make their own tools and use them on their own to better or easy their life’s. According to Mazlish, man and machines are continues.
Dr.Bruce Mazlish was a history professor and he taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1950 until 2003. With the use of psychoanalysis and history, Mazlish was able to craft his article, âThe Fourth Discontinuityâ, in which he discusses about the connection between human beings and machinery. In his article, the author discusses about 4 discontinuities. However, before he explains the history behind each of them, a brief definition about what a discontinuity is, is presented. Mazlish uses American psychologist James Brunner, to help define what a discontinuity actually is. âWhere discontinuity means an emphasis on breaks or gaps in the phenomena of nature.â The first discontinuity that the author mentions in his article is about how human beings once believed that the earth was the center of the universe. Nicolaus Copernicus was able to teach humanity that the universe does not revolve around the earth, which shaves away at the idea that the earth is as significant as people once believed. â First in the line was Copernicus, who taught that our earth was not the center of the universe, but only a tiny speck in a world-system of a magnitude hardly conceivable.â The second discontinuity that the author mentions is about how human beings were created by a divine being(god). Charles Darwin managed to teach humanity after years of research that man is actually a descendant of the animal world. â Second was Darwin, who “robbedâ man of his peculiar privilege of having been specially created, and relegated him to a descent from the animal.â The third discontinuity that the author mentions in his article comes from psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Freud provides information to humanity that there are three hypothetical parts of our brain, the ID, the ego, and the superego. These parts of the brain are in constant disagreement in each other which sheds some insight on the idea of human beings having a conscious and unconscious mind. The fourth and final discontinuity that the author mentions is about how man and machine are separated . Mazlish uses the information collected from the three profound scientists mentioned to come to the realization that man allows technology to evolve and vice versa.
After reading Bruce Mazlishâs âThe Fourth Discontinuityâ there was a clear message in the text that stated that human beings exist on a continuum with technology. Discontinuity could be defined as a distinct break in physical continuity or sequence in time. Or a sharp difference of characteristics between parts of something. But many go with the former like Mazlish had with the term. âThe Fourth Discontinuityâ was described by Mazlish as a feedback loop that aided humanâs into changing technology, which in turn helped up âcross the fourth discontinuity.â That notion that we are crossing said discontinuity. In the text, Bruce Mazlish brought up that there was a convergence happening between human beings and technology, which is basically between the “natural” and “artificial” world.
âMazlish identifies three previous mental barriers or “discontinuities” that the human race has had to overcome. The First Discontinuity started to be crossed when Nicolaus Copernicus proposed his theory of heliocentricity, and which stated that the Earth rotated around the Sun and not the other way around. The Second Discontinuity was then breached when Charles Darwin popularised his theories of evolution and natural selection. The Third Discontinuity then started to be dispelled when Sigmund Freud bridged the divide between our “conscious” and “subconscious”, in the process highlighting human beings as psychological as well as physiological creatures.â
Mazlish’s idea that humans now are crossing the Fourth Discontinuity had been divided into two parts. First, he claimed that it was no longer realistic to think of humans without machines. Second, he claimed that the same paradigms or ideas explain the inner workings of human beings and many artificial mechanisms now.
Bruce Mazlish was an American historian and was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the History department. Mazlish combined the discipline of psychoanalysis with history in to better grasp the complexities of human consciousness. He sites Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund Freudâs work and discoveries as inspiration and research basis for the understanding of man. âA little later in 1917, Freud repeated his sketch concerning the three great shocks to manâs who. In his short essay, âA Difficulty in the Path if Psychoanalysis,â he again discussed the cosmological, biological, and now psychological blows to human pride and when challenged by his friend Karl Abraham, admitted, Your are right in saying that the enumeration of my last paper may give the impression of claiming a place beside Copernicus and Darwinâ.â His basic understanding of the progression of understanding the human consciousness is a lot like the quote by Isaac Newton âIf I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giantsâ which means to say that truth can be discovered by building on pre existing knowledge. The First Discontinuity was between Earth and the Celestial Bodies. When a majority of people were under the misconception that the other planets, the Sun and stars revolve around the Earth. Giving birth to the uncomfortable truth that man is not the center of the universe. âCopernicus, who taught that our earth âwas not the center of the universe, but only a tiny speck in world-system of a magnitude hardly conceivableâ.â The Second Discontinuity was between Man and Animal, when it was popular belief that man was separate from animal. âDarwin, who ârobbed man of his peculiar privilege of having been specifically created, and relegated him to a descent from the animal worldâ.â The Third Discontinuity was between instinct and behavior, explained that manâs consciousness is far more complex than âhe thinks and then doesâ and that multiple factors over turn in man’s mind for them to come to decision and action. âOn his own account, Freud admitted, or claimed, that psychoanalysis was âendeavoring to prove to the âegoâ of each one of us that he is not even master in his own house, but that he must remain content with the request scraps of information about what is going on unconsciously in his mindâ.â The titular Fourth Discontinuity belonged to Mazlish himself. âMan and the machines he creates are continuous and that the same conceptual schemes, for example, that help explain the workings of his brain also explain the workings of a “thinking machine.” Man’s pride, and his refusal to acknowledge this continuity, is the substratum upon which the distrust of technology and an industrialized society has been rearâ.â
Bruce Mazlish was a âhistorian of ideas who created controversy with psychoanalytic biographies of living world leadersâ (NYTimes). Mazlish wrote the essay âThe Fourth Discontinuity.â His essay states that writing, challenges what we think. Living in the 21st century, we have innovators creating technologies that have never been seen before, heard of, or even thought about. Take for example Steve Jobâs iPhone inventionÍŸ he created a product that literally changed the human race. A simple technology as a touch screen phone with features like emojis, and concepts of condensing words of âlaugh out loudâ to âlol.â Mazlish describes this all as âwe create technology that changes us, and we in turn change and improve on that technology.â This can be interpreted with the key idea that âwe as humans are in a system with technology.â Whether it is an iPhone, or a toaster, or a religious book, technology is ubiquitous and is an integral part of our lives, as we grow. This entire idea that Mazlish speaks about can be called a âfeedback loop,â where there is an endless cycle of humans changing technology, technology changing us, and so on.