Tchnocracy or Technopoly?

The ideas of technocracy and technopoly, as stated by Neil Postman, are both linked by technological advances. Technocracy however, still has moral and spiritual ideas that have been passed down from generation to generation. It is based on the idea of progress. In this idea, the use of current technology is necessary to help humanity, but it is not dependent on. Whereas, technopoly is defined by the thought of efficiency. In a technopoly, humans rely solemnly on technology. It is believed that all human problems will be solved by technology, and no human labor is needed.

            Technocracy is based on the idea of progress. As stated by Postman “Technocracy gave us the idea of progress and of necessity loosened our bonds with tradition­­- whether political or spiritual.”(45) This idea however, didn’t fulfill it didn’t render traditional ideas. The moral and traditional ideas are still found in a technocracy. Technology plays an important role in progress, but it is not all based on technology. Citizens living in a technocracy know that technology doesn’t provide ideas of how to live; they follow the ideas that have been passed down. They believe that technological tools are there to be their servants and not their masters. This idea made them believe that no technological advance could “insult their self-respect.”(48)

            Technopoly has one goal in humanity, and that is efficiency. Frederick W. Taylor had the idea that “…goal of human labor and thought is efficiency; that technical calculation is in all respects superior to human judgment;…”(51) Taylor believed in a technopoly, where efficiency was the main goal of humanity. This would be a time when technology would take care of human problems and solve them. Postman compared the idea of technopoly with Brave New World “Technopoly eliminates alternatives to itself in precisely the way Aldous Huxley outlined in Brave Ne World.”(48) In Brave New World the society is living in a totalitarian technocracy. In other words they live under technological advances and forget about moral and spiritual values. A good point made by Postman is how in Brave New World, Huxley makes the shift from technocracy to technopoly, by changing the time according to Ford. In a tecnhopoly human relies on technology, and its advances to make humans less uselfull.

Singularity...NOT!

The idea of computers becoming smarter than human kind is not reasonable. Computers would not exist today with out the human mind. The human mind is more powerful than any computer. A computer has limited thinking. The computer will only perform as far as a program will let it. In the article 2045: The Year Man Become Immortal it talks about singularity. The singularity is the idea of computers becoming smarter than man. “We will successfully reverse-engineer the human brain by the mid-2020s. By the end of that decade, computers will be capable of human-level intelligence,” stated Kurzweil. This quote shows that computers will be capable of “human-level intelligence” it doesn’t say that they will reach full human intelligence.

            Computers intelligence is limited; it can only go as far as the program will let it. The computer can never think for its own. Everything computers are capable of now is thanks to the human intelligence. A human can come up with ideas and create it on its own. Where as a computer can’t think, and will never be able to make something with out a human mind. Computers can reach a human intelligence potential, but it’s limited. They will perform what they were designed for, and can’t possibly do anything further.

            The idea of singularity is confusing. It basically refers to technological advances where computers can perform at a human capacity. I’m not against technological advances, as long as it’s for human benefit. People talk about how computers will one day take over the world; the way I see it is humans invented computers; therefore we have the power to destroy them. In my opinion this whole idea of singularity is not even worth thinking about. People should just move on with their life and not worry about computers ever becoming smarter than humans.

Cat's Cradle.

The essay I read was by Derek D. Miller. He does a good job of explaining the book, and how it is related to the belief of postmodernism. By referring to certain quotes in the book, where the belief of postmodernism is used, he is able to achieve his point. What I liked about his essay is that after each quote, he explained how it was related to the topic. His writing is brief and easy to understand.

Miller’s essay is all based on one idea; it is divided into sections explaining many points within that one idea. The flow of his essay is continuous; he is brief and easy to understand. There is no specific arrangement to his essay. He states his idea on what the book was trying to portray, and backs it up by using quotes from the book. He does refer a lot to the idea of comedic sense of irony from the author. This idea is brought up along with the authors sarcasm used in the book.

I was not to sure what the target audience in this essay was. I was able to understand it, so my guess is that someone like me was the target audience. It was very easy for me to understand and follow along. I did get lost at times, due to the fact that I have not read the book. As I continued reading I was able to catch up with the concept of the essay. The way his writing was arranged made it easy for me to comprehend.

This essay does contradict what we have been taught at school since middle school. all through middle school, and even in elementary school, we have been taught to write essays a certain way. At least five paragraphs each one containing no less than five sentences, but no more than eight. In the Miller’s essay he breaks all these” rules.” His essay is arranged in a clean manner, but not in the format we have been taught most of our lives. One thing we have been taught that he used is the CD and CM patterns. He does use this pattern, but with a twist. He states a quote, and he explains it with both facts and beliefs.

By reading his essay, I was able to understand his idea on postmodernism. Miller discusses Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Postmodernism is viewed as a “Grand Narrative of absolute truth and the modern ideas of progress.” In the book society achieves progress based on truth, knowledge, and experimentation. Enlightenment is what society bases their ideas on. The belief that the more they know, the better off they are. The idea of a Utopia is forced upon society and the belief that the only way to get there is through science, discovery, and knowledge.