Five Things We Need To Know About Technological Change

            The article was based on Neil Postman’s (the author) address at a 1998 conference titled “The New Technologies an the Human Person: Communicating the Faith in the New Millennium.”  He discusses human technological advances throughout our history and the impact they have had on our society.  It is his belief that the anticipated problems associated with the computer’s capacity for interpreting the year 2000 are exaggerated and not any different from problems faced by mankind throughout the past centuries. He numerates his five ideas on technology and their effect on cultural stability.

            The first and second ideas inform the reader of two related points.  For “every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage”_p2 and “the advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population.”_p2   He provides some examples of technological advances and their side effects.  Ultimately he wants people to understand that for every great invention society pays a great cost.  Sometimes the cost is worth paying but the key is to understand that there will be an impact on society and that impact will not affect everyone in the same manner.  There will always be groups that will benefit from the new technology and other segments of the population that will be harmed.  You have to be aware and question the individual who only states the benefits and ease of computer use in our society.  The questions that should be addressed are “who are you hoping to give power to? and who are you withholding power from?” _p3

            The third and fourth idea tells us “that every technology has a prejudice”_p3 and

“a new medium does not add something; it changes everything.”_p4   An individual, whose technological focus is the computer, might come to view everything as computer related. Instead of seeing someone as a person who has knowledge and wisdom, the computer minded individual will look at that person as information.  When a technological advance is introduced it usually changes the way the society behaves.  The change is usually irreversible, therefore should be carefully considered.

            The fifth and final idea is that “media tends to become mythic.”_p4  People begin to take technological advances as if they always existed.  They forget that they are man made and therefore can be changed or modified.  In the author’s example, he proposed television broadcasting should only be available from 5 PM to 11 PM.  It is something that can be done but who would consider doing it.  It almost seems to go against everything we believe is natural. 

            In summary, the author tries to convey to his audience that technological advances do not come cheap. A heavy price is paid by society but it is not distributed evenly.  The changes brought about sometimes have consequences, which are not evident for some time and are usually irreversible.