Technology and Society by Neil Postman 2/7

[ratfinkabooboo18]

How can you say that nothing on youtube can be taken serious while making your point on youtube?

[JustATheist]

Insanity is sanity. Only crazy people think they are sane. ... Help me define a NORMAL person Mr.sanity. Why the everyday person know what a 7/47's use is? ... They are not experts and that amount of televisions is likely more ecologically damaging. Cruise control helps regulate your gas tank and it increases your efficiency and focus. 2 hands on the wheel JACKASS! Why focus on a difficult handle? Get power steering if you want exercise.

If you care about majority, let's talk Africa.

[longlifeenergy]

@itsacorporatething: While youtube can be used for mindless entertainment, it can also be used to get important information. It is up to the user to make the decision of what they want to fill their minds with. I prefer youtube and the internet to TV for this reason. Choice. Of course I know can always change the channel on the TV, but there is so much less choice than on youtube and the internet.

[conroywhitney]

Does anyone else enjoy the irony of us watching and learning from him using the "information superhighway" ? I find it incredible how much the internet (and our use of it) has evolved from these skeptical beginnings a mere 12 years ago...

[EvKrusty]

totally

[tyrbolo]

And now you know why people like this should be locked away in the academic

realm in hopes that their students will be able to educate them.

I can dream....LOL

[speakvisual]

his reasoning is thoroughly sound, down-to-earth and practical, however since the middle of the 20th century most Western societies have shifted from a needs-based to a desires-based paradigm of producing and consuming products, and that has affected the way technology is used and developed as well.. Still, his points are very valuable, so thanks for sharing this. Food for thought is always welcome, even if it sometimes unfortunately serves as a reminder of the obvious.

[PeterRoeder31]

@speakvisual It´s a pity that he didn´t live long enough to really see the Internet evolve though...

[saracen313]

interesting theories.....i'm amazed that people like him do'nt become apparently religious

[8thEstate]

Neil Postman wrote a book (which is also on mp3 on the net in various places) titled: Amusing ourselves to death, wherein he presents the history of media from the printing press to modern day technology. He describes how technology is consistently used to dis-empower us UNLESS we learn to think critically for ourselves and communicate more constructively. His work fosters an objective and independent line of thinking for individuals seeking to escape the gravity of Establishment media.

[TRICAMET]

lol at tvs on 747's

[nowayasway89]

haha this guy is awesome.

[tokotokotoko3]

Gosh, am I glad that Al Gore had a bigger vision than this guy.

[emceescher]

He's not presenting us with a "vision" he is presenting us with questions to decide for ourselves.

Also, history hasn't played out yet buddy. I wouldn't be so quick to say the ineternet was clearly the greatest thing to ever happen.

[tokotokotoko3]

AFAIS he clearly says the net as a solution to no problem. So he would have not supported funding, thus we would not have it today.

"Greatest thing" is vague. I see it clearly as the quickest tool for gathering and spreading information. And its 10 times more democratic than TV ever was.

Let alone all the other positive effects.

So perhaps always asking if something is a solution, is not the best way of doing things. Playing around and see what comes out of it, might be the smarter thing.

[channelislander]

@tokotokotoko3 Great point. What if jazz musicians kept stopping to ask each other what problem their improvisations are providing a solution to, etc? No: creators of various kinds must be given room to breathe, to explore, not to necessarily know where they're going before they get there. I love many things that Postman says and writes but think he could have broached the question of what authority he bases his judgment of the primacy of answering this "solution to what problem?" question.

[RadfordOnCamera]

wow, I like his comment questioning the need for more than 40-50 tv channels...I would have never seen this without youtube, a technology which has changed society, globally

[itsacorporatething]

His point that he makes in his book is that the medium of the message is the message itself. The purpose of youtube is mindless entertainment, or time wasting. Sure we have a global tool, but what is it being used for besides useless crap? No serious discourse can occur on youtube that is not better suited elsehow.

[PeterRoeder31]

@itsacorporatething That´s true. Surely making comments in Web 2.0 is the most superflous thing yet invented.

[wompeter1]

@RadfordOnCamera I didn't need the internet or YouTube to read his book. I read about his book in a magazine. They do publish magazines other than Car & Driver and Barely Legal, you know.

[Kerry19191962]

Mine do, too.

[DrFallon]

I thank you, my mother thanks you, my children thank you, the world thanks you.