In the Process of Processing...Ideas
Published Friday, April 07, 2006 by Dan Gainsford | E-mail this post
Leaving Edmonton and the comfort of my cousin's Jess' condo was our first tentative step into the realm of uncertainty. The place where questions like "Where are we going today?", "Where should we sleep?" and "What should we do here?" are common. And it feels good!
We spent a week in Edmonton because of various obligations, but without even realizing it. It shocked us to when we realized how easily that time had drifted by. At the same time there was a slight feeling that the city had sucked us in when we didn't want to be there, eventhough we really had little choice in the matter.
The past four nights we have been living out of the van (finally!) and with that has come more time to focus on the project and percolate ideas that we are presented with: from the places and things we see; from discussions we've had with each other and people that we've met; from radio programs we've listened to; and from the books we are reading.
I'm reading a very interesting book called In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations by Jerry Mander. This is another book from Dan's reading list. Compiled over the past few years while the project developed in his mind.
Mander is a former advertising exec. who in the late 1960s became involved with various groups working in the public interest. He is a skeptic and could be considered a neo-Ludite. He writes well and with a flare for the sardonic.
Though I have basically just cracked the book, the ideas he presents are prehaps some of the most revolutionary I have ever read - at least, revolutionary with respect to contemporary times. He is frustrated by how Western culture has been bombarded with so much technology over the past few years and how easily all such technolgy is absorbed into our culture. He questions the real value of these new technologies and wishes more people would "holistically" critique and examine new technologies.
Two of the most thought provoking pages of the book so far have been his "Ten Recommended Attitudes About Technology" from which I want to highlight two points (but I think all of you would do well to read all 10):
2. Assume all technology "guilty until proven innocnet." and
Why so negative? Mander says that we have been duped into believing that all technology is neutral and that only the people who use technology decide it's value or social, political, and environmental consequences. This is because since the end of World War II, when so many "advances" were happening so quickly, the advertising spin was that all technology was good and going to make life easier. Such things were considered "progress" and far be it from anyone oppose progress; however in the process, this created a dangerous blind spot in our culture's evolution. And we can see this today: so many new things are coming in (faster computers, smaller MP3s, "better" drugs, etc...) and we are just trying to keep up, let alone evaluate it.
Mander worries about the lack of democratization in the development and introduction of new technology. He talks a bit about his first book called Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television and how he was shocked when he found out that out of 10,000-odd books written on the subject of television in society, his was the first to advocate its removal. All other critical opinions were simply out to make content "better" but these failed to see how much of a benefit television was to a very small percent of the population (see Attitude 5).
His view is perhaps extreme, but the point is clear: there should be a wider public debate about new technologies. And I believe there is a very strong case for this. Perhaps we see this happening currently vise a vis genetic research, but even there, it's not as intense as such a huge topic deserves. There is only the occasional flourish in the headlines and otherwise the debates are kept to very exclusive circles of intellectuals and public officials - 'cause the general public shouldn't be bothered with such "trivialities" as the building blocks of life.
I'm worried that I'm not effectively addressing these ideas, and I've already blabbered on too long about them - re-writing Lander's words more or less. So I'll save furhter ruminations for another time. Let me leave you with a quip from the chapter "Seven Negative Points About Computers" that again shows the keen and sardonic style of Mander:
At the 1940 World's Fair, American industry promised that
computers...would eliminate toil, and thus free us to pursue higher
goals. In the 1980s industry said computers would...ease the burden
of office workers....What automation and computerization actually
do achieve is the elimination of jobs, which liberates human beings
to stand in unemployment lines.
He's a barrel of laughs, I tell ya!
After reading about some of Mander's ideas, it was cool to learn of someone who is trying to help one culture in this vein of sorting through the massive flow of technology that is enveloping the world. Last night we attended a screening of some selected entries to the 2005 Banff Mountain Film Festival. Most of the movies were rather shallow, just about various forms of adrenaline junkies - examples of what I talked about in my Feb. 22 entry "What Kind of Nature Lover Are You?": i.e. people who love the outdoors mostly because of its capacity to be their playground.
However, two films The Hatch and The Magic Mountain were more profound. The latter, in particular, interested me. It talked about a Canadian woman, Cynthia Hunt, who independantly started an NGO called HEALTH (Health,Environment and Literacy in the Himalayas) in Ladakh, a remote area of India in the Himalayas with a unique culture. Her efforts are centered around helping ease new beneficial technology and knowledge into the remote villages of Ladakh, at a speed that won't threaten to overwhelm their ancient cultural fabric or threaten their sovereignty. It was an inspiring story. You can read more about HEALTH at www.health-inc.org. And if you want to know more about the Banff Mountain Film Fest go to: www.banffcentre.com/mountainculture/2005/
I'd apologize for the increasing length of my entries, but I'm not sorry.
Until next time!
f
We spent a week in Edmonton because of various obligations, but without even realizing it. It shocked us to when we realized how easily that time had drifted by. At the same time there was a slight feeling that the city had sucked us in when we didn't want to be there, eventhough we really had little choice in the matter.
The past four nights we have been living out of the van (finally!) and with that has come more time to focus on the project and percolate ideas that we are presented with: from the places and things we see; from discussions we've had with each other and people that we've met; from radio programs we've listened to; and from the books we are reading.
I'm reading a very interesting book called In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations by Jerry Mander. This is another book from Dan's reading list. Compiled over the past few years while the project developed in his mind.
Mander is a former advertising exec. who in the late 1960s became involved with various groups working in the public interest. He is a skeptic and could be considered a neo-Ludite. He writes well and with a flare for the sardonic.
Though I have basically just cracked the book, the ideas he presents are prehaps some of the most revolutionary I have ever read - at least, revolutionary with respect to contemporary times. He is frustrated by how Western culture has been bombarded with so much technology over the past few years and how easily all such technolgy is absorbed into our culture. He questions the real value of these new technologies and wishes more people would "holistically" critique and examine new technologies.
Two of the most thought provoking pages of the book so far have been his "Ten Recommended Attitudes About Technology" from which I want to highlight two points (but I think all of you would do well to read all 10):
2. Assume all technology "guilty until proven innocnet." and
5. Never judge a technology by the way it benefits you personally. Seek a holistic view of its impacts. The operative question is not whether it benefits you, but who benefits most? And to what ends?
Why so negative? Mander says that we have been duped into believing that all technology is neutral and that only the people who use technology decide it's value or social, political, and environmental consequences. This is because since the end of World War II, when so many "advances" were happening so quickly, the advertising spin was that all technology was good and going to make life easier. Such things were considered "progress" and far be it from anyone oppose progress; however in the process, this created a dangerous blind spot in our culture's evolution. And we can see this today: so many new things are coming in (faster computers, smaller MP3s, "better" drugs, etc...) and we are just trying to keep up, let alone evaluate it.
Mander worries about the lack of democratization in the development and introduction of new technology. He talks a bit about his first book called Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television and how he was shocked when he found out that out of 10,000-odd books written on the subject of television in society, his was the first to advocate its removal. All other critical opinions were simply out to make content "better" but these failed to see how much of a benefit television was to a very small percent of the population (see Attitude 5).
His view is perhaps extreme, but the point is clear: there should be a wider public debate about new technologies. And I believe there is a very strong case for this. Perhaps we see this happening currently vise a vis genetic research, but even there, it's not as intense as such a huge topic deserves. There is only the occasional flourish in the headlines and otherwise the debates are kept to very exclusive circles of intellectuals and public officials - 'cause the general public shouldn't be bothered with such "trivialities" as the building blocks of life.
I'm worried that I'm not effectively addressing these ideas, and I've already blabbered on too long about them - re-writing Lander's words more or less. So I'll save furhter ruminations for another time. Let me leave you with a quip from the chapter "Seven Negative Points About Computers" that again shows the keen and sardonic style of Mander:
At the 1940 World's Fair, American industry promised that
computers...would eliminate toil, and thus free us to pursue higher
goals. In the 1980s industry said computers would...ease the burden
of office workers....What automation and computerization actually
do achieve is the elimination of jobs, which liberates human beings
to stand in unemployment lines.
He's a barrel of laughs, I tell ya!
After reading about some of Mander's ideas, it was cool to learn of someone who is trying to help one culture in this vein of sorting through the massive flow of technology that is enveloping the world. Last night we attended a screening of some selected entries to the 2005 Banff Mountain Film Festival. Most of the movies were rather shallow, just about various forms of adrenaline junkies - examples of what I talked about in my Feb. 22 entry "What Kind of Nature Lover Are You?": i.e. people who love the outdoors mostly because of its capacity to be their playground.
However, two films The Hatch and The Magic Mountain were more profound. The latter, in particular, interested me. It talked about a Canadian woman, Cynthia Hunt, who independantly started an NGO called HEALTH (Health,Environment and Literacy in the Himalayas) in Ladakh, a remote area of India in the Himalayas with a unique culture. Her efforts are centered around helping ease new beneficial technology and knowledge into the remote villages of Ladakh, at a speed that won't threaten to overwhelm their ancient cultural fabric or threaten their sovereignty. It was an inspiring story. You can read more about HEALTH at www.health-inc.org. And if you want to know more about the Banff Mountain Film Fest go to: www.banffcentre.com/mountainculture/2005/
I'd apologize for the increasing length of my entries, but I'm not sorry.
Until next time!
f