“All technical progress exacts a price. We cannot believe that Technique brings us nothing; but we must not think that what it brings it brings free of charge.”— Jacques Ellul
The social history of the refrigerator...I'm not sure I've read a defense of macro-style tech criticism or media ecology that sums up their virtues as concisely as this paragraph. I just finished David Eagleman's latest, on the brain's "livewiring" ability to map new electrical signals to body image or external activity. I thought repeatedly of McLuhan's insistence that alterations in sense ratios produce alterations in consciousness, culture, politics, etc. Would lab or factory workers really benefit from having the status of the room's machines transmitted straight to their brains? New efficiencies for individuals were touted when the smartphone, automobile and credit card were introduced, but each ended up as an obligation. I rarely feel I experience these as atomistic contexts in themselves, but as a single environment, especially now, when most are now bundled a priori into convergent technologies anyway.
I wavered on that last line, feeling it was a bit on the snarky side, but obviously decided to leave it in for a bit of punch. With regards to the rest ... agreed. The loop that brings us over and over from novel efficiency to obligation is itself a compelling illustration of Ellul's argument about la technique.
The social history of the refrigerator...I'm not sure I've read a defense of macro-style tech criticism or media ecology that sums up their virtues as concisely as this paragraph. I just finished David Eagleman's latest, on the brain's "livewiring" ability to map new electrical signals to body image or external activity. I thought repeatedly of McLuhan's insistence that alterations in sense ratios produce alterations in consciousness, culture, politics, etc. Would lab or factory workers really benefit from having the status of the room's machines transmitted straight to their brains? New efficiencies for individuals were touted when the smartphone, automobile and credit card were introduced, but each ended up as an obligation. I rarely feel I experience these as atomistic contexts in themselves, but as a single environment, especially now, when most are now bundled a priori into convergent technologies anyway.
I wavered on that last line, feeling it was a bit on the snarky side, but obviously decided to leave it in for a bit of punch. With regards to the rest ... agreed. The loop that brings us over and over from novel efficiency to obligation is itself a compelling illustration of Ellul's argument about la technique.
Thanks for the writing this year! Looking forward to more in the coming year.
Thanks, Matt!