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.” Hmmm, OK. Which is? “… a state of culture a state of mind. And the result is a bubbling manifesto cautioning us against the “technopoly”. It's a spellbinding magic trick of an enormous mind. The result in this case was not the modification of a culture but its eradication.” He quotes poetry, he quotes the Bible, he quotes C.S. I love when he references fiction like: “As described by Farley Mowat in "The People of the Deer", the replacement of bows and arrows with rifles is one of the most chilling tales on record of a technological attack on a tool-using culture. Sample sentence from : “In introducing the personal computer to the classroom, we shall be breaking a four-hundred-year-old truce between the gregariousness and openness fostered by orality and the introspection and isolation fostered by the printed word.” Everything is backed up with a fat Notes, Bibliography, and Index, making this book much shorter than it seems when you pick it up (199 pages!). The book was written in 1992 ( I love 1992!) but honestly feels like it was written tomorrow. There's so much Technology Archaeology here with Postman endlessly pulling out sandy shards from 500, 1000, or 2000 years ago. Our task is to understand what that design is – that is to say, when we admit a new technology to the culture, we must do it with eyes wide open.” Yes! I think of the mere 5000 days we've had with social media and the seeming eye-opening we're going through now. (He excerpts a fascinating couple of 95-year-old paragraphs from Freud.) Postman then says “once a technology is admitted, it plays out its hand it does what it is designed to do. The book opens by saying, yes, of course, technology gives us great riches, unfathomable riches, but that it also takes something away. It’s not nearly as famous as " Amusing Ourselves to Death" (picked by Mitchell Kaplan in Chapter 16!) but it sure is a sloshy bucket of ice-water to the face. I first heard of this book while reading “It’s Time to Dismantle the Technopoly” in The New Yorker by Cal Newport ( excited for his, too!) where he calls this book Postman’s “masterwork”. A book that illuminates the algorithm and AI conversations we’re having today. A prophetic 30-year-old manifesto about the dangers of pervasive technology by NYU professor Neil Postman, who died in 2003 at age 72. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman. You can also get my midnight awesome thing, bi-weekly blog post, and/or full-moon podcasts. Oh, and every January I remind you this Book Club is one of four email lists I have. Scroll down for reviews of the books I read this month. (I pre-ordered my copy from my local indie but I see Jon just tweeted it's on sale at Barnes&Noble)Īnyway! What do we do when things feel like a lot? And, trust me, it’s always the parents calling.” Does your school board ban cell phones – or have some policy? (Let me know what’s working!) Btw: I think the best researcher on this topic today is NYU professor Jonathan Haidt who is publishing wonderful work and whose new book " The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Ilness" drops March 26, 2024. After I spoke to principals a sixth-grade teacher told me “Phones ring all through class. I just dropped the chat as my first-ever video podcast.Īlso, I’ve been working with a few folks at the Toronto District School Board to think about how to ban cell phones from classrooms. I had my mind blown by the gleeful, quick-of-tongue, anthropologist-evolutionary-psychologist who offered so much context, history, and advice on how we live rich, full, connected lives. Wondering about loneliness, and eager to learn more about what creates healthy connection and community, made me reach out to 76-year-old Oxford Professor Robin Dunbar, most famous for coining ‘ Dunbar’s Number.’ Research says 1 in 2 American adults feel “lonely” now – which is worse for our health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And I feel this growing sense of loneliness. So much in the air these days – love, fear, connection, disconnection. Everything is gray, slushy, twig-silhouettey. We’ve been desperate for snow in Toronto. Neil's Monthly Book Club is my oldest and most popular email newsletter.
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