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Questioning technology online, or Elizabeth bites the hand that feeds her… Written for CBC Ottawa's Radio Show, CBO Morning Four years ago, I worked for a summer as a historical interpreter, pretending to be a 1905 era farmwife. I wore long skirts, and big hats, and I spent my days entertaining tourists by chopping wood, making cookies in my ornery woodstove, washing my aprons, picking berries, and other assorted farmwife activities. I hate to say it, but that was still the best job I’ve ever had. I loved the job in part because it satisfied my natural hammy desire to entertain people, but also because—and I know this sounds schmaltzy—I saw "the hand of god" in my farmhouse work. The berries I picked went into my pies. The ashes from cooking fertilized the berry patch. The woodstove kept me warm and cooked our food. It all worked together perfectly like that. Now, like legions of other lucky twentysomethings, I have a cushy, well paying Internet industry job. My days are spent in a cubicle, with a computer—no matter whether it’s the darkest day of winter, or spring planting time. I’ll be the first person to admit that the Internet has been very good to me, and I still find it fascinating. But sometimes I just wish I could get out from behind my desk and back into the berry patch. Interestingly enough, I’m not the only one who wants to bite the hand that feeds me. In fact, the Internet itself features a number of sites that dedicated to questioning technology—from hard core neo-ludditism to middle ground critiques such as technorealism. I’ve also noticed that our current popular culture is starting to be a bit more critical of technology as well—as seen in movies such as "Fight Club" and "American Beauty"—in which the modern technological workplace enslaves the spirits of the workers. Of my little surfing trip to technology critique sites, I found that the best and most balanced of these pages was the site devoted to technorealism, at http://www.technorealism.org. Technorealism is a movement that started in 1998, after two technology writers, David Schenk and Andrew Sharpiro had lunch one day in New York City. They started talking, and realized soon that they shared an opinion about that the way technology is represented in the media—that it tends to be viewed in a black or white context—as wonderful or horrible, with no middle ground. Along with a number of other well-known technology writers, Shenk and Sharpiro put together the technorealism manifesto, which is now posted on the technorealism home page. The manifesto is pretty simple, but the concepts are ones that are often overlooked in our day and age of techno-hype or fear. There are eight basic principles that make up technorealism. Two examples of these include principals #1 and #2: 1. Technologies
are not neutral. The technorealism site also has an interesting FAQ plus some links to related readings. Visiting technorealism.org also gives you the opportunity to sign up as supporter of the movement as well. (If you look hard enough, you’ll find my name on the list.) A bit further over on the spectrum, the Internet, is, interestingly enough, peppered with sites that glorify neo-ludditism. You remember the luddites, don’t you? They were the disgruntled Industrial Revolution workers who decided to take the law into their own hands and destroy the machines in their factories. Traditionally, those who call themselves luddites are suspicious of new technology, and new modes of work based on these technologies. Neo-luddites are a bit of a different breed from the crowd that smashed up machines back in the 1800s. I don’t think any of them are that interested in destroying computers, but they are certainly mistrustful of them. The main problem I had with surfing luddite sites is that many of them were tremendously out of date. I guess luddites really don’t like to spend that much time with their computers. Some of the neo-luddite sites can be a bit wacky, but I found some interesting reading at both the Luddite Reader (http://www.ludditereader.com) and at the Technofear site (http://www.lagavulin.freeserve.co.uk/). The Luddite Reader is basically a round-up of luddite resources and books, with interesting reviews, and some general information about the nature and origins of luddism. The basic philosophy behind the site can be found on their definition page: "Pay attention to technology, consider our humanity, then make your choices." Of course the Luddite Reader is also linked to Amazon.com, so viewers can make their informed choices to buy Luddite reading material through the Internet. Am I the only one who detects some irony here? Technofear, on the other hand, is a black comedy look at our rapidly changing world. The main news page indexes current questionable uses of technology, and gleefully linked to an article detailing how Nasa’s latest Mars probe literally crashed and burned. Technofear also has some interesting links to like minded websites that you might want to check out. It is, yes, somewhat odd to find sites that criticize technology online, of all places, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. In fact, I have a feeling that movements such as technorealism and neo-luddism have become popular mainly because people hear about them by surfing the web. This in itself illustrates one of the big ironies of the Internet—that this seemingly isolating technology often has the ability to bring together people who may not have found the forum to share their views beforehand. Weird, huh? Oh well. As far as I can tell, it’s important to keep on questioning these machines and technological advances that rule our lives. These sites remind us that there is a life away from the screen. As for me, I think it’s time for me to get away from the computer and go do some berry picking… |
