Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 1 Questions/Comments"
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Reading through Pursell's introduction was a pleasure. Its an easy read and successfully makes me not only think about about what she is saying, but also causes me to reflect on how her points are relevent in my life. Her three falacies on page 2 (new tech replaces old, new tech will be only change, new tech will only solve problems) reflect perfectly modern advertising techniques (almost every commercial contains at least 2 of those 3). Her focus on the context of the origins of older technologies, why they were made and how thier viewed by their creators, was fascinating. They builders of the pyramids didn't think to themselves, "Yeah, these are nice but just wait till next year when when get those new blocks of stone. We can totally renovate these things and really bring them up to date." Planned obsolescence has only really become a modern mode of thought. I feel like she really "gets" modern society. I really look forward to reading the rest of this book and the sections she included in her book. -- Scott Birney | Reading through Pursell's introduction was a pleasure. Its an easy read and successfully makes me not only think about about what she is saying, but also causes me to reflect on how her points are relevent in my life. Her three falacies on page 2 (new tech replaces old, new tech will be only change, new tech will only solve problems) reflect perfectly modern advertising techniques (almost every commercial contains at least 2 of those 3). Her focus on the context of the origins of older technologies, why they were made and how thier viewed by their creators, was fascinating. They builders of the pyramids didn't think to themselves, "Yeah, these are nice but just wait till next year when when get those new blocks of stone. We can totally renovate these things and really bring them up to date." Planned obsolescence has only really become a modern mode of thought. I feel like she really "gets" modern society. I really look forward to reading the rest of this book and the sections she included in her book. -- Scott Birney | ||
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| + | I found the term “Technology Determinism” (meaning technology shaping what happens in society) very interesting because I never looked at technology shaping society in that kind of manner. As I began to think about it when I continued to read, I noticed that technology had a great effect on society, such as the amount of work available for laborers, or changes in other fields of history that help develop new technologies. Depending on your perspective, certain technologies can be viewed as a good or bad thing. Pursell states, “new technologies not only solve problems, they create them as well.” I completely agree with this statement. When was the last time you spent too many hours on the internet looking at useless information when you could have been more productive by doing schoolwork? While the internet is a great resource for us 99% of the time, using facebook only prevents us from other responsibilities. The use of this technology can create a problem if none of your schoolwork is done. What are other examples of technology being a positive and negative factor on society? –Megan Gallagher | ||
