From Technocracy to Technopoly, The Shift From Humans To Machines.

In today's world we are very reliant on technology to perform our simple everyday tasks, however it was not always this way. There was a point in time when we began to become more independent on technology and less dependent on our own capabilities. When did this shift occur, when exactly did we begin to become increasingly reliant on technology? According to a book published by Neil Postman, "To give a date to the beginnings of Technopoly in America is an exercise in arbitrariness. It is somewhat like trying to say, precisely, when a coin is flipped in the air begins its descent. You cannot see the exact moment it stops rising..." In this chapter of this novel the author identifies that in Brave New World, Huxley identified "the emergence of Henry Ford's empire as the decisive moment in the shift from technocracy to Technopoly, which is why in his brave new world time is reckoned as BF and AF." Throughout Brave New World, the citizens of the World State substitute the name of Henry Ford, an early industrialist who founded Ford Motor Company, wherever people in our own world would say "Lord”. In addition they have T's painted across their shirts and this is a substitute for the cross. This shows that at all levels of society religion has been replaced by reverence for technology. The citizens of the World State also use the phrase "Oh Ford" when they feel they must. Neil Postman describes a technocracy as a "society only loosely controlled by social custom and religious tradition and driven by the impulse to invent." Neil Postman suggests that technocracy "filled the air with the promise of new freedoms", so are the citizens of Brave New World in a technocratic society? No, they have no freedoms, although they are made to believe that they have many freedoms. Brave New World is a society that has drifted into a Technopoly. Postman describes this as a society where “the primary, if not the only, goal of human labor and through its efficiency; that technical calculation is in all respects superior to human judgment; that in fact human judgment can not be trusted...and the affairs of citizens are best guided by conducted experiments." This description is reoccurring in Brave New World, where humans are devalued and machines are placed above human importance. The humans have become slaves to machines, they labor in order to increase productivity, but their lives are given no meaning. They are conditioned and have no real opinions of their own. The dependence of technology has grown so much, that without it the entire society would be in ruins. The technology owns the humans and the humans become subservient to it, in a way the humans become machine-like themselves. They are produced in a factory and then molded in order to fit as a part of a larger "machine", society. Taylor fits into this discussion, because Postman likes to use the publishing of his book "The Principles of scientific Management" in 1911 as the first written work that contained the "exploit and formal outline of the assumptions of the thought-word of Technopoly." Although Taylor only intended it to apply to industrial production, the principles published in this book became much more significant than just that. 

Growth of Technology, Good or Bad?

         This article presents the concept of the growth of technology and its possible effects. In this article it is believed that there is a "line blur that cannot be unblurred, the line between organic intelligence and artificial intelligence." This line is thin and hard to determine. What is the line that should not be crossed? In the novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, a "utopian" civilization is created. However, in this civilization humans work for the machines, as apposed to machines working for humans. Throughout the novel, Huxley describes how babies are produced in factories and how "everyone belongs to everyone else." This article, Singularity, the author believes that the mergence of man and technology can prove to be good. " All that horsepower could be put in the service of emulating whatever it is our brains are doing when they create consciousness — not just doing arithmetic very quickly or composing piano music but also driving cars, writing books, making ethical decisions, appreciating fancy paintings, making witty observations at cocktail parties." This article believes that it is possible for computers to become more intelligent than humans, the super intelligent computers would have the ability to work incredibly quickly and there would be no necessity to, take breaks to play Farmville." Perhaps the reliance on machines and machines outsmarting human intelligence would make us "less authentically human." In order to be authentically human one must have a soul and a brain that was not "created" in a factory or through a scientific experiment. A plus noted in this article is that we would be able to overcome the effects of death and over-aging. However, would you want to be immortal? In Brave New World, the citizens of this very "Utopian" society have overcome death and aging, consequently, when Linda and Bernard travel to the "savage" world Linda is appalled at the old woman who has " sagging cheeks, with those purplish blotches; and the red veins on her nose, the bloodshot eyes; and that neck- the neck.." This article draws parallels to the novel Brave New World in that one describes a society which may be achieved in the future and the other, the novel, describes a society that is already existent and functioning. There is pluses and deltas to a society where technology is growing exponentially. 

Lit Assignment

Kiran Gill

Emily Dickinson's 'My Life had stood-a Loaded Gun-': Revealing the Power of a Woman's Words

            Kathleen E. Gilligan writes this paper in order to better explain to the reader the purpose and the hidden meanings in the poem “My Life has stood-a-Loaded Gun” by Emily Dickinson. The author is trying to get the reader of this piece to better understand how the use of Emily Dickinson’s word choice and punctuation were used throughout her poems to help enhance the wring and depict a deeper meaning then one may interpret.

            The intended audience seems to be a college professor or any individual who may be attempting to better understand Emily Dickinson and her poetry The author is very well aware of her audience as her entire piece is focused on “My Life had stood-a- Loaded Gun”, its multiple meanings and the many techniques Emily Dickinson uses in order to get her point across. The subject of this piece, as stated, is Emily Dickinson’s poem and a stanza-by-stanza interpretation of the double meanings and the hidden interpretations of this poem. The writer of this piece also starts the piece off with biographical information about Emily Dickinson. This is done in order to give the reader a better insight on Dickinson’s background and the reason for her point of view on certain issues.

            The thesis of this particular article is, how Emily Dickinson’s, seemingly random capitalization, lack of punctuation or obsession with dashes, and incorrect use of grammar were all done deliberately, sometimes to highlight the message that would have otherwise gone unheeded.” The author of this passage then goes to give an example, and this poem “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—” becomes the main subject of this piece. Gilligan attempts to prove that this poem has a second meaning, a hidden layer that not all are able to interpret, it is about a woman and how much power her words hold. The different stanzas in the poem organize the arrangement of ideas. Every paragraph represents a stanza and the stanzas go in chronological order. This is done effectively, it is easy to follow the piece and know where the author is referring to in the poem.

            The language used by Gilligan is formal, but not too formal to a point where it is hard to understand. Gilligan uses various quotes numerous times throughout the passage. These quotes come from Emily Dickinson’s poem; these are used as support to help Gilligan make her point. Transitions are used adequately to make the text unified and coherent and the organization is apparent and effective. 

            Gilligan, the writer of the passage, does indeed build a strong ethos, however, by bringing the opinion of a credible and well-educated outside source, Gilligan could better her ethos and may come off as more reliable. There are many restrictions which high-school teachers often place on students and a new insight I have gained by reading this piece is that these restrictions do not always better writing, often times they hinder the growing process. This piece of writing does contradict many “rules” we may have learned in the past, because every body paragraph is not identical in format with a CD and 2 CM’s, however this writing is effective in getting its point across. By extending the limits, a better writing piece is produced then one that could have been produced if this writer was also confound to the limits we often times are. 

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