Although in his analysis of the techno-cultural moment Postman is careful to say that
technologies and the changes they bring both giveth and taketh away, he
is much more interested in gloomy prognostications than in sunny ones.
The computer, Postman argues, is a singularly powerful weapon in the
conquest Technopoly has already achieved in America, and will soon
achieve in the rest of the post-industrial world. Technopoly is,
surprisingly enough, not a specific technology but a whole
technological mindset, what Postman calls a "totalitarian technocracy"
(p. 48) .
"Technopoly is a state of culture. It is also a
state of mind. It consists in the deification of technology, which
means that the culture seeks its authorization in technology, finds its
satisfactions in technology, and takes its orders from technology."
Technopoly, he argues, flourishes wherever people "believe that
information is an unmixed
blessing, which through its continued and uncontrolled production
and dissemination offers increased freedom, creativity, and peace
of mind.... Technopoly flourishes when the defenses against
information break down" (p. 71) .
Postman grudgingly concedes that electronic textuality may someday
offer "a new kind of book, expanding and enriching the tradition
of writing technologies.... But for the moment, [he asserts]
computer technology functions more as a new mode of transportation
than as a new means of substantive communication. It moves
information -- lots of it, fast, and mostly in calculating mode"
(p. 118) . For Postman, the computer
stands in opposition to genuinely human affairs.
Tuman agrees.
Lanham and Bolter beg to differ.
OK, so these guys just generally don't see things the same way. What's at stake in this dispute, anyway?
This page is part of the article, "E-literacies: Politexts, Hypertexts and Other Cultural Formations in the Late Age of Print."