| Part One: The Case Against Technology | |
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There seems to have always been some ambivalence regarding technological progress. In the early nineteenth century England ambivalence turned to violence as workers whose jobs were replaced by machines raided homes and factories destroying power looms that threatened both their livelihoods and culture. Today there are neo-Luddites (the Unabomber being the most extreme example) concerned that technology is out-of-control and contributing to social inequality, the destruction of freedoms, and the devastation of the environment.
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| Reading
1: Technology and Progress part a. Richard Heinberg (MuseLetter) - A Different Kind of Progress |
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Technology is
virtually synonymous with the idea of progress. Technology, we
believe, has improved our lives and elevated our standard of
living. However, as we shall see, there is another side to this
story. In the first essay, Richard Heinberg outlines a
general critique of the idea of progress, providing a brief history of
the idea (as well as of the industrial revolution), and concluding,
among other things that "Today the typical American is surrounded
by labor-saving devices, and yet the European pre-enclosure peasant
actually worked fewer hours per week on average than a modern American
with a full-time job." In the second essay, Kirkpatrick Sale
argues that the idea of progress has masked from us the damage that
technology does to our lives.
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| Reading 2: Thomas Pynchon (NY Times Book Review) - Is it OK to be a Luddite? | |
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People, it seems,
have always been ambivalent about the benefits of technology, and, at
times, been downright hostile. American Writer Thomas Pynchon
provides a history of the opposition to technology and a commentary on
the Luddites (although, contrary to Pynchon's information, the origin of
the term Luddite is obscure and there may never have been a "Ned
Ludd").
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| Reading 3: Kirkpatrick Sale (The Nation) - Lessons from the Luddites | |
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Sale's book, Rebels
Against the Future, details the history of the Luddites, their aims
and motivations, and the social and political conditions that prompted
their protest. In this article he outlines what he believes are
the lessons to be learned from their actions.
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| Reading
4: The Case of the Unabomber part a. Jon Katz (HotWired) - Let us debate technology: part b. Kirkpatrick Sale (The Nation) - The Unabomber's manifesto against technological progress: method in the terrorist's madness? |
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In the
mid-90s, the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski, captured public attention by
mailing bombs to people he felt were contributing to the domination of
technology over our lives. Three people were killed and many more
injured until the media agreed to publish his "manifesto" on
the evils of technology. Kaczynski was eventually caught and
sentenced to life imprisonment. But his acts and his writing
focused attention (albeit only briefly) on the issue of the role of
technology in our life. These essays by Jon Katz and Kirkpatrick
Sale examine whether or not there are lessons to be learned from
"Unabomber" and his manifesto.
Additional Resources:
-- The Full Text
of the Unabomber Manifesto
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| Reading 5: Ernst Schumacher - Technology with a human face (from Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered) | |
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In his book,
Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, Ernest Schumacher
argues that it is possible to change the direction of technological
development, that technology is too important to be left to the
"experts," and that the "case for hope rests on the fact
that ordinary people are often able to take a wider view, and a more
"humanistic" view, than is normally being taken by
experts." Schumacher's best-selling book was a major impetus
for the "simple-living" movement that emerged in the 1970s and
80s.
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| Reading 6: Langdon Winner (Newsday) - Technomania and sleepwalking | |
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There is
perspective, argued here by Langdon
Winner, that technology can, in fact, improve our lives, "strengthen
local communities, revitalize democratic politics, eradicate chronic
urban poverty and encourage environmentally sound means of production
around the globe." However, he says, this requires
imaginative public policy initiatives. To this end, Winner and his
colleagues are developing a Center for Cultural Design.
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