Technology and Society by Neil Postman 1/7

[MoreGarbage]

People often don't choose what's good for them, lowrad. They're giving up freedom and the ability to think in exchange for amusement and triviality. If one person does that, it's a choice. When the majority does it, that restricts choice. Skepticism is healthy and criticizing bad choices is legitimate public discourse.

[psycomedia]

turn off

tune out

drop dead

watch?v=FmgKwJhodZw

[smokutusofborg]

Neil Postman wasn't a mailman but he was a man and he probably got a lot of mail.

[JustATheist]

The Cloning of Human Beings will not be a Reality. Who cares what Jesus or Buddha would say about this one idea within our century? Why not ask them what they think about walmart? Synthetic Organs are cheaper, more effective and less ethically concerning... NOOB! OMFG I'm speaking to Youtube! So trippy! Not...

Then you go on... To explain Sanity? ... Are you really consciously going to tell people what consciousness is? ... Take a philosophy course.

[PeterRoeder31]

One of the most brilliant persons ever!

[steinstop]

But, if this is not the problem.

[meltzerboy]

This talk by Postman is based on Huxley's prophecy in "Brave New World" that humans will come to welcome and love the technology that eventually destroys their human cognitive and emotional processes. This is different from Orwell's world vision in "1984," in which environmental forces come to exert a controlling power and influence on our thoughts and emotions against our will. There appears to be some truth to Postman's argument; certainly it offers us food for thought, if we can still think.

[tyrbolo]

So how long has this moron been biologically ignorant, identical twins are clones.

Do they cut each other up for spare parts without being arrested for assault or

murder ??

[wda013]

(for my archives:)

(2:04) " All our inventions are but improved means to an unimproved end. " -- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

[tousledmonkey]

he sounds like a chain smoker. he's a genius, though.

[omid11]

there's nothing you can do just live your life and be a good person

[shasta723]

this dude is so powerful, just when he speaks you can like totally tell how powerful he is... unbelievable

[Jitpring]

Friends, google the following for a page of mine on amazon:

Resist the Brave New World

Also:

Mustapha Mond is Now President

Go through google. Easier than finding them on amazon.

[martr164]

I think this is great.

[ivionday]

Tired rant

[lowrad]

This fellow brings a number of important ideas to the table, but the comments... Man, most of you think you know what's good for people more than they do. I suspect many of you sniff your own f@rts out of a wine glass.

[isaacharvey]

hahaha

[wompeter1]

@lowrad So what's your important idea? The idea of sniffing farts out of a wineglass? Sniff your own farts, and come back when you actually have something to contribute. Moron.

[lowrad]

@wompeter1 No, the analogy of self important twats who think they know what's good for other people was Trey Parker and Matt Stone's idea. I contributed by calling these twats out on this forum. Meanwhile, you call *me* out (with much less humour) while contributing no more than I did. Hypocrite.

[wompeter1]

Humour that needs explaining is not humour at all. Don't take yourself so seriously. Here's your wineglass.

[lowrad]

@wompeter1 Uh oh... Did I touch a nerve, Champ? Don't go away mad. Just go away.

[the13thof12]

@lowrad You've been spying on me.

[lowrad]

@the13thof12 - We think alike, do we?

[ThFranke]

Thank you for this video, Postman is great, I like this guy and his way of thinking. I think he is right, simply because he is able to ask the right questions. They remain right, even if the situation changes. Internet is a great achievement - but only for those, who can use it. Information is accessible only for those, who learned about the value of knowledge and who know what to search for.

[TheShafee]

Internet is good only for those who KNOW how to use it, technically and cognitively.

[hokieguy95]

that is applicable to any tool.

[dharmashooter]

@TheShafee Whether you're Intelligent or not the internet will be using you when you need it to function in society.

[PeterRoeder31]

@ThFranke Isn´t it vice versa? The Internet is only a problem for those who DO use it? Why do you like Postman, if you don´t believe his Faustian thesis?

[ThFranke]

@PeterRoeder31 :

First: Not to use the internet is also a problem in many ways. It is not that easy.

Secondly: Which Faustian thesis?

[PeterRoeder31]

@ThFranke That new technology also takes something away. It brings something but there is a price...

[ThFranke]

@PeterRoeder31 :

Hm, I didn't say, that I do not like this thesis, it is plain truth.

[made3057]

We are ready to keep up his spirit and sharing his concerns which is based on genetic research of human behaviour...

Thank you for your personal commitment to our project.

Best wishes from "United World Philharmonic"

[Dougeroma]

For a cinematic representation of the cloning business, see the movie "The Island".

[bdk1234567]

I thought about that when he mentioned the idea of keeping a spare person for spare parts, as it were. I presume the story got its idea from Postman, or wherever the idea originated if not from him.

As a side note... that was a really bad movie. LOL.

[nowayasway89]

At this Tzu Kung was much abashed, and said nothing.

story goes from bottom to top

[nowayasway89]

and that those who are not pure and incorrupt are restless in spirit, and that those who are restless in spirit are not vehicles for Tao. It is not that I do not know of these things. I should be ashamed to use them.'

[nowayasway89]

Thereupon the gardener flushed up and said, 'I have heard from my teacher that those who have cunning implements are cunning in their dealings, and that those who are cunning in their dealings have cunning in their hearts, and that those who have cunning in their hearts cannot be pure and incorrupt,

[nowayasway89]

'What is it?' asked the gardener.

'It is a contrivance made of wood', replied Tzu Kung, 'heavy behind and light in front. It draws up water as you do with your hands, but in a constantly overflowing stream. It is called a well-sweep.'

[nowayasway89]

'If you had a machine here', cried Tzu Kung, 'in a day you could irrigate a hundred times your present area. The labour required is trifling as compared with the work done. Would you not like to have one?'

[nowayasway89]

When Tzu Kung went south to the Ch'u State on his way back to the Chin State, he passed through Han-yin. There he saw an old man engaged in making a ditch to connect his vegetable garden with a well. He had a pitcher in his hand, with which he was bringing up water and pouring it into a ditch, ‹ great labour with very little result.

[ForGodAlone]

The cloning of humans and keeping them guarded and well and then using their parts when we need them was the story behind the movie called THE ISLAND with Ewan McGregor, several years ago. As usual, Hollywood scenarios are never in the realm of impossibilities.

[todnyc]

yep, that Y2K "nervous breakdown" really happened... and the Internet is just SUCH a harbinger of doom. yeah. right.

[scoliosispony]

why don't you think about the amount of time you relate to people through your computer or simply relate directly to your computer as opposed to actual person to person interaction with no technological mediation, all this shit is hollowing us out, myself not excluded

[todnyc]

what do you actually mean by "hollowing us out"?

i read Postman's polemic against television and he was really against THAT... but how much BETTER was life BEFORE television? it's really such pathetic on his part, because as you can see, some 1,700 people (viewers of this video) have been exposed to his message--THANKS to YouTube. i wonder if he was also against cars, toasters, and lightbulbs too.

[scoliosispony]

It's not w/o benefit. It's very ironic I heard about him on youtube. By hollowing us out I mean that we trade real human interaction for dumbed down forms of communication that don't allow the same level of intimacy and I've noticed a lot of the time trying now to have real conversation about real things with people has become increasingly difficult. Like think of th consideration of thought one puts into a letter vs. an email.

[emceescher]

I write letters all the time and they have actually helped salvage my relationship with my extended family.

I find they create more meaningful interactions. Not to mention that my grandparents and aunts/uncles etc don't have email! lol.

[emceescher]

What I'm saying is that it means a lot more to them than the ten minute phone call to a relative I haven't talked to for five years.

[scoliosispony]

...Or how much you used to cherish a conversation with a distant friend when you couldn't so easily reach them by various electronic means. Even right now I found myself editing this response before deciding to split it into too b/c of this shitty techno filter

[emceescher]

todnyc, you obviously think life sucked back then, but it was better was environmentally. That's scientifically clear.

Obviously cars and CO2 are a huge factor, but so is consumerism in general, which cars play multiple roles in. I think TV hugely increased consumerism - specifically demand, supply, extraction, pollution, and waste. I think environmentally, let alone culturally, socially, etc... we'd have been better off without TV.

[emceescher]

Admittedly, I don't have the statistics in front of me that say "TV increased consumerism", so its an educated guess.

In regards to the Internet, there are tons of downsides: increase in consumerism (my guess), all the pollution/resource usage related to CPU production, usage and waste, and of course the whole societal side that scoliosispony mentioned, that we in our "jacked-in" culture don't even consider, mostly.

I'm just pointing out the negatives because you didn't think there were any.

[todnyc]

i still don't.

[emceescher]

Well I just mentioned them so if you dont see them you must not be able to see my post.

[wasimkhan321]

thank you

[vforvoltaire]

Good stuff. Remember anticonsumer!

[DrFallon]

Thanks and blessings on your head.

[bluecliff03]

thanks man

[gu88766]

thank you for posting this