TECHNOPOLY: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
I do not need the front page with name, institution, course, instructor name, I can do that myself. Just write the Introduction and in-text citations, and lastly the reference
ANSWER
Introduction
Neil Postman talks about three cultures that have existed in the world of technology. The tool-using culture comprised of inventions of tools to assist human beings in their tasks (Postman, 1993). Technology in this culture was not autonomous but subject to social and religious systems. In technocracy, the society was controlled by religious tradition and social custom, with people having a strong drive to invent. Technopoly is characterized by advancement in technology, whereby human beings find the meaning of life in technique and machinery. Here, technology is sovereign and cultural life submits to it. A critical analysis of Postman’s book, “Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology” is necessary to assist in establishing the relevance of Postman’s argument in the present and the future and the transition among these cultures with regard to Strategic Communication.
Postman’s Strategic Communication transformations
Postman identifies transitions in culture, highlighting the characteristics of each culture based on technology, modes of communication, and ways of life and belief systems. This transition shows the changes in strategic communication across the cultures. Reliance on mass media has transitioned to reliance on social media. Over the ages, information has been elevated to a metaphysical status, whereby it is both a means and an end of creativity. In this culture, information appears to be directed to no particular person, indiscriminative, voluminous at high speeds, disconnected from meaning, purpose and theory (Postman, 1993). New control systems have risen to assist in management of information in a way that it can be stored and measured scientifically. This includes information such as opinion polls, IQ tests and statistics.
These transitions are evident in the society. In the technopoly culture, information is useless and dangerous since when one has a computer to access any information, everything accessed seems relevant while in reality, it is not. On the other hand, technological change has led to ease of communication as messages can be sent and received on the click of a button, as compared to earlier centuries.
Significance of Technopoly and its value in the research interest
Technopoly exhibits a wide array of benefits, and is significant in various ways. First of all, business costs are significantly lowered by the application of technology in business operation. Automation helps a great deal in lowering the costs of labour, paperwork and so on. There is also creation of business opportunities in the technology, ICT and innovation sectors. As a result of this, economic growth is witnessed across nations. Business models that are obsolescent are destroyed more speedily to create room for more relevant and successful models. However, technopoly poses threats to competition and lowers the ability of insurgents to bear the new business environment factors. Technopoly may seem to be very significant in the present world but it is important to note that there is always a price that culture pays for technology. It’s a trade-off between culture and technology. Any new technology comes with good tidings but also takes away something from the culture.
These insights contribute greatly to the research interest in this case. The analysis of the significance of technopoly and also its drawbacks provides information that is beneficial in researching on the impact that technopoly has had on the development of strategic communication over time, and to predict the kind of changes that are likely to take place in the future.
Postman’s relevance to the future of Strategic Communication and aspects of his ideas to reconsider
Postman has for decades been very relevant in Strategic Communication philosophy. He continues to be relevant now and in the future. To begin with, the historical progression of strategic communication must be analyzed as one seeks to understand the direction that strategic communication is taking. By examining the relationship between technology and culture, philosophers will be able to strike a balance between the two by giving more understanding on how one affects the other. This will result in better application of technology to match the already existing culture.
In line with this, Postman’s theology of technology and the conclusion that technology drains culture are two aspects that should be reconsidered in this period of history. His theology of technology suggests that technopoly takes technique as an element that is superior to human thinking. It attributes technopoly’s origin to scientism, that is, the belief that social and natural science practices provide a source of moral authority. This thinking is debatable and would have to be reconsidered if Postman is to be relevant in this historical moment. Postman’s conclusion that technology drains culture also needs to be reconsidered since by now, technology has already been incorporated in most cultures. In addition to that, it not only drains culture, but also adds some value to it in one way or another.
Conclusion
A critical analysis of Postman’s book on how technology affects culture and life with regard to Strategic Communication lays out points that differentiate among the three cultures identified by Postman, significance of technopoly as well as the corresponding drawbacks and the value they add to the research, relevance of the author to the future of Strategic Communication philosophy and aspects of the ideas to be reconsidered. It is clear that as research on the development of Strategic Communication goes on, the analysis done in this paper will be relevant in giving hindsight of where we have come from as a society and a foresight of where we are headed.
Reference
Postman, N. (1993). Technolopy: The surrender of culture to technology. New York, NY: Vintage Books/Random House. ISBN: 9780679745402.
