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<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15"> <meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 15"> <link rel=File-List href="James%20Burke%20and%20the%20Technology%20Trap.html%20hw%202%20article_files/filelist.xml"> <link rel=Edit-Time-Data href="James%20Burke%20and%20the%20Technology%20Trap.html%20hw%202%20article_files/editdata.mso">  <title>James Burke and the Technology Trap</title>  <link rel=themeData href="James%20Burke%20and%20the%20Technology%20Trap.html%20hw%202%20article_files/themedata.thmx"> <link rel=colorSchemeMapping href="James%20Burke%20and%20the%20Technology%20Trap.html%20hw%202%20article_files/colorschememapping.xml">  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in;word-wrap:break-word'> <div class=WordSection1> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=6 cellpadding=0 style='mso-cellspacing:1.5pt;mso-yfti-tbllook:1184'> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:0;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes'> <td colspan=2 style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <p>We’ll be spending a good deal of time with James Burke during this course and it’s important to understand where he comes from. His thesis is made up of essentially three assumptions that he derives from his  observations of history and contemporary society.</p> <ol start=1 type=1> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Modern societies are almost entirely dependent on technology. Among the most important innovations are innovations in technology that manage information.<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Our way of looking at the world is changed when we have new information. And how we react to everyday events changes with it. Because this becomes part of an unquestioned world view that we use to make decisions all the time, we had better be sure that the information we have is true.<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>If we want to deal with modern problems, some of which of caused by modern technology, ignorance isn't an option. For example, very few of us have even the foggiest idea of how any of the technology we rely on actually works. If your car breaks down on the side of the road, you have little choice but to call for help. Even a mechanic is unlikely to be able to repair it without access to a whole garage full of other technologies that he doesn’t really understand either. If something as complicated as your cell phone breaks down, all bets are off. How do we deal with so much information and so much ignorance?<o:p></o:p></span></li> </ol> </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:1'> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <p>The historical perspective that Burke provides gives added urgency to Postman’s points. We make our decisions using premises that we don't question. We don't wonder if the elevator will work each time we get into it. We just do it and, if it breaks down, we expect there to be a solution to that problem in the form of an emergency button. But we don't think about that either. We'd be surprised if there wasn't one, but we don't look for it when we get on the elevator. What other assumptions do we make without thinking, and are they true?</p> <p>The rest of the course will be spent exploring this idea. Are we even capable of anticipating the outcome of new technologies as Postman says we should be? Are we even capable of this or do we blindly follow our assumptions? Burke will give us the background and we’ll be referring to other articles throughout the semester to give us contemporary examples of how this interrelationship we have with technology manifests itself.</p> </td> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof:yes'><img id="_x0000_i1026" src="http://www.madcad.com/newsletters/march09/Emergency.gif"></span><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p></o:p></span></p> </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:2;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes'> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof:yes'><img width=635 height=465 id="_x0000_i1025" src="https://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/s3fs-public/blog_media/james_burke_story.jpg"></span><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p></o:p></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>A quick note on James Burke's book. The material you'll find is creeping up to 30 years of age. That's older than some of you, I would guess. In today's world of demanding the latest and the greatest, this kind of academic anachronism is unforgivable. But you have to promise to hear Burke out. He's not the latest, but I have explored a great many resources for this course and, when it comes to putting the humanities in perspective and when it comes to exploring how we see our world today, it's among the greatest. As a matter of fact, one of the points that he makes is that in every era in which people seriously contemplate the nature of the world around them, those who do the contemplation are pretty sure they're view of truth is spot on. Of course, it never is. Why is this? Because implementing a technology has always opened doors so extraordinary given what life was like without it, that we can't believe that it's not the way the world was meant to be. Postman calls this view "mythic." The technology we use today becomes some much a part of our everyday lives, that we take it for God given. So when you see Burke in his outdated suit, or when he rolls out a gps system in a suitcase, try not to let that get in the way of what he's saying. Perhaps the greatest technical innovation the world has seen is more likely to be the print press than it is to be the news that the iPhone now comes in mauve.</p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> </div> </body> </html>