Cancellation: Wed., 3/11

Dear Students,

I apologize for having to cancel class last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. We will be back on schedule for Friday.

I hope that the cancellation notice was put up on the right door, and mentions checking the blog. I'm afraid I told the office the wrong classroom number. I had no computer to check for the right room, so I hope that message arrived. 

Here is what I intended for us to discuss today:

Discussion Questions From Technopoly to Aid Final Projects: (Chapters 4-5)


1. Postman comments often on the growing gap technology has created between American culture and spirituality. He even implicates that American society has replaced the Church with the computer, and that both serve as similar functions in society (71). How is Postman paralleling the two, and to what extent do you agree or disagree with his views?


2. Postman’s meditation on technology in American culture echoes DeLillo’s commentary on “misinformation” in White Noise. Both ask readers to consider where information comes from, and what is it used for. What role(s) does information have in American society; where does information come from, how is it used; and what are possible effects this has on American culture?


3. What is wrong with “control institutions”? What purpose do they have, and what would happen without them (Ch. 5)?


4. According to Postman, America is a country full of experts, but that’s a bad thing. He believes America is full of people blind to disciplines outside their expertise (87). First, why does he believe this? Secondly, if his assumption (which can be seen as an oversimplification of a society) were true, how can we apply his theory to the role of the Internet in society?


5. By the end of Chapter 4, one might ask, “How much information do we need, what kind of information is important, and what do we do with it?” Postman has his ideas, but what are yours? What role does the Internet in giving that information, and how does society process that information? How should they? Again, what role does the Internet play in this flow of information?

What dangers brought up by Postman can we identify in the use of the Internet as a tool of gathering and processing data?

Also: for Friday, please skip ahead to Chapter 7: The Ideology of Machines: Computer Technologies. I'd like to revolve our conversation around this chapter and the above for Friday.

Sincerely,

Christopher