Thank God for the Neil Postman’s of the world ...

And we should all live in communes, wear khaki pants and grow our own broccoli…

Thank God for the Neil Postman’s of the world exist to save us idiots from our “massive ignorance.” (135) The second half of Neil Postman’s book Technopoly did not state that we should all live in communes so our society could operate on a higher plane, but only because the author ended the book. Somehow, technology has become a “malevolent force requiring opposition” (177) and educating our children with his agenda will improve society. Postman accuses 18^th century statistician Francis Galton of being guilty of having a pathological romance with numbers (129) because he has to… The author’s zeal in attacking technology would seem crazy if he didn’t have someone to call fanatical. Time has already begun to prove the author mistaken. In Chapter 6 the author expresses his opinion that technology has corrupted the field of American medicine which , Postman claims, is “notorious for its characteristic aggressiveness.” (95) Since the author has no medical credentials this may or may not be true. However what has happened as a result of technology is an emergence of a new industry. The word “wellness” probably didn’t exist in 1993 when this book was penned, but it has become an exploding industry because of technology and consumers ability to access health information via the internet. Vitamins, food supplements and gym memberships are all an integral part of popular culture. The wellness industry has created an increased awareness in preventative health. New technologies and information availability are responsible for this paradigm shift. As I stated in my first post regarding this book, the author’s fear-based scarcity mind-set sought to isolate a period of history and call technology “malevolent.” The emergence of the wellness industry has given the consumer the ability to educate and implement new health related products because of technological innovations. This reader gives the American patient or consumer much more credit than Professor Postman.

In the next couple of chapters Postman invokes a new word -Scientism- to describe the fields of anthropology, psychology and sociology and proclaim then not sciences. (144-163) He says technology has made them sciences when they really are not. If you are confused, that’s ok, because so am I. And, of course he takes a shot at President Reagan. (162) It would not be a book by a college professor without a Republican bash. Anyway, he proceeds to tell his readers that technological advances have left society without a “moral center.” (179) The author then presents his agenda to correct all the wrongs technology has wrought on society.

The final chapter of the book called The Loving Resistance Fighter reveals the authors cure for our massive ignorance. And, shocking as this may seem, Postman wants to change the curriculum in the school systems. Of course this includes waxing poetic about the good old days. Pop culture bad, humanities good. (If this were a documentary, I would have walked out by now.) The computer is evil and “our youth must be shown that not all worthwhile things are instantly accessible and there are levels of sensibility unknown to them.” (197) According to the author, this return basics will “allow us to distance ourselves from our current ignorance and then “criticize and modify it.” (199)

In his introduction, Neil Postman claims that “the uncontrolled growth of technology destroys the vital sources of our humanity. It creates a culture without a moral foundation. It undermines certain mental processes and social relations that make human life worth living.” (vii) This reader could not disagree more. I embrace and welcome change, both personal and technological. I do agree with the author’s concept of the ascent of humanity. He says it is idea-centered and coherence-centered.(188) However, in my opinion technology is an integral part of the evolution and ascent of mankind. I believe that Professor Postman’s Technopoly concepts will be proven wrong over time and we will all live healthier, fuller, more abundant lives because of technological innovation.