War of Quotations

So, it started with me pointing out this cool device to my boss: Wireless Extension Cord (you have to love it just for the oxymoronic name!)

She had understandable concerns, though I personally think anything that reduces cables is a good thing. However, at one point, she replied with a quote:

"we must cultivate a sense of the whole and not cede to our technologies more dominion than their particular functions warrant." Neal Postman

Of course, thanks to wikipedia, I could riposte with:

""I don't think any of us can do much about the rapid growth of new technology. However, it is possible for us to learn how to control our own uses of technology." - Neal Postman

What I find amusing is that we work in the field of educational television, supporting our teachers, and yet if you read more of his philosophy:

"Another way of saying this is that a new technology tends to favor some groups of people and harms other groups. School teachers, for example, will, in the long run, probably be made obsolete by television, as blacksmiths were made obsolete by the automobile, as balladeers were made obsolete by the printing press. Technological change, in other words, always results in winners and losers."

So, going by this, not only are we an active part of the imminent demise of those we support...my friend, who makes his living as a blacksmith, should throw in his tongs (too bad, he's got a nicer living space than I, that's for sure). And I'll just have to give up my goals of growing up to become a "balladeer" (was that ever really a job? And more to the point: is he suggesting that fewer people make their living now through the creation of songs than did before the printing press?

I'm not saying he doesn't have a good point about the need to control our adoption of new technology. I just dislike the kneejerk Luddite attitude, especially where it bemoans the loss of one thing without acknowledging the emergence of another.