The Dystopians:
Approaching Technology From a Critical Perspective
Home
Introduction
Confronting the Machine
Visions of the Future
The Neo-Luddites
What's Wrong With Technology?
Cyberspace
The Digital Divide
Technology and Community
Technology and Happiness
Conclusion
References
© Canada Science and Technology Museum. Image # CN000540. Reproduced with
permission from the Images Canada website:
www.imagescanada.ca
Introduction
Confronting the Machine
Visions of the Future
The Neo-Luddites
What's Wrong With Technology?
Cyberspace
The Digital Divide
Technology and Community
Technology and Happiness
Conclusion
References
© Canada Science and Technology Museum. Image # CN000540. Reproduced with permission from the Images Canada website:
www.imagescanada.ca
Confronting the Machine
In anthropological terms, the period in which humans have interacted with machines has been brief. Fossil evidence shows that australopithecans, one of the earliest ancestors of modern humans, walked the Earth over three million years ago1. Homo Sapiens (modern humans) have existed for at least 200-250,000 years, and possibly for much longer 2. Even the earliest known hominids used tools--first simple stone tools3, and later copper (8000 BCE), iron (1500 BCE)4, and other metals. Naturally, unique societies evolved in unique ways--so-called "Stone Age" peoples existed up until relatively recent times. Cave paintings first appeared approximately 25-30,000 years ago, while the first writing system, Cuneiform, developed from 3000-6000 BCE. Paper that resembles modern paper was invented by Tsai Lun of China in 105 BCE. The first printing press dates to 305 CE and the first moveable type press in 1048 CE (both in China) 5
Machines and the Industrial Revolution
If we narrow the definition of machines to include only machines powered by electricity, steam, or other external means, we would begin in England in the 18th century and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The lightbulb, the first major electric innovation to enter people's homes, was invented in 1879. The first generation of modern programmed electronic computers was built in 1947, and in 1969 the ARPA net, the forerunner of the internet, was born.6 The internet as we know it-- a tool for mass communication--became used on a widespread basis only within the last 10-15 years.
What This Means
Modern technologies--computers, the internet, cell-phones, and so on--represent an utterly new and untested phenomena. Electricity itself is a very recent phenomenon in terms of total human existence. What future this technology promises is undeterminable at the present, but we can start by looking at two visions of this future: the Utopian vision and the Dystopian vision.
