Blog Assignment #4

"Does Technology Control Us?"

Well, one of the stakeholders that Nye presents in his chapter 2 : "Does Technology Control Us?" is television industry because back then they could of lost a lot or gained a lot. "In the United States television is specular, not religious; private, not public; funded by advertising, not taxation; and a conduit primarily of entertainment, not education. These are cultural choices" (Nye 19). Without the interest of the American people, television would of never gone anywhere. It would of just been another example of today's XM radio, which has many drawbacks, no support, and NO interest by the American people. Without the support of the American people there is nothing you can do to further a technology.

What kinds of sources does he draw from? The sources that Nye draw from are Capitalism and Material Life by Fernand Baraudel. In this particular source Nye talks about how technology is only an instrument and that man does not necessarily need it to survive. However, some technologies, such as electricity, are so profoundly useful that it has been implemented into society. Furthermore, Nye also draws ideas from Edward Tenner's book, Why Things Bite Back. That part of the chapter explains how either technology breaks it or makes it for you company. His test was that he initially got rid of secrataries and replaced them with machines. The results, I thought, were astonishing! Reducing staff raised 43% of companies profits while 24% suffered loses in their newly implemented ideas. Moving on, Nye draws from another author, Alvin Toffler, who wrote Future Shock and The Third Wave, stating that technology has gone far beyong that in which a human can comprehend with. Initially, Nye uses lots of examples and has various articles that help determine both views on technology.


What are some of the tentative conclusions Nye makes in regards to the question he poses.
Some conclusions that Nye makes is that when he uses examples about the industrial revolution he is clearly stating that technology controls us because people are losing their jobs for something that man created to do a more efficient job, but in the process it makes us lose our jobs. Also he talks about the Japanese and how they firmly rejected the gun. This just goes to show that technology does not indeed control us, but we control it. The Japanese banned the gun for centuries, but finally implemented it. For the most part, from what the Japanese did, it's totally up to society to see what they want to do in terms of letting technology control them or vice versa.

Finally, given your own experience and perspective how would YOU answer the question Nye poses? Well, first off, I would definitely say that it is a line right down the center of the debate of "Does Technology Control Us?" because of the following. We as a society choose what we want to implement into our societies. We as consumers choose what we want to buy, in terms of technologies such as cameras, computers, etc. We have choice to technology, and most of use choose to buy these gadgets that make our live not necessarily easier but just more entertaining. Your camera isn't crucial to your survival but you still buy it because you strive for it, you just want it. On the other hand, there are technologies that control us, for example, the Internet. The Internet is a major part of our lives. Ofcourse we can live without, but most of us use it so much that we wouldn't know what to do if it were to suddenly disappear one day. Actually, now that I think about it. Technology does control us, and that's kind of sad, but technology can't do anything with a human's input. Still it controls us to no end, and will continue to do so as long as we have more technological advances.