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MIT Technology Review on Where Orwell Went Wrong

Posted by chrisd on from the hows-the-war-on-oceania-going dept.

nakhla writes "MIT's Technology Review is running an interesting article entitled Who's Afraid of 1984? The article talks about Orwell's famous work, and examines how Orwell's view of technology's impact on freedom and democracy was flawed. The article points out that, in fact, freedom and democracy were strengthened by technological innovations, and addresses its affect on Stalinism and Nazism. An interestng read for those who are worried about technology's impact on our generation and beyond."

2 of 633 comments (clear)

  1. Re:More afraid of Socialism by invckb · · Score: 5, Informative
    Actually, Orwell was a Socialist.

    Orwell was afraid of Totalitarianism, and both 1984 and Animal Farm should be viewed as a declaration against tyrants, not an endorsement of conservative values.

  2. Points to note by guttentag · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. MIT has an interest in ensuring that people do not fear technology. Worst case scenario: a technophobic generation starts shunning the MITs of the world for agricultural colleges.

    2. Appending the MIT brand to someone's opinion doesn't necessarily mean the author is any more knowledgeable than the clerk at your local 7-eleven.

    3. The author is not an MIT professor of economics, political science, sociology, literature, comp-sci or any other subject that would qualify him as an authority on the subjects covered by 1984. He teaches astrogeophysics at Berkeley. He currently teaches a course called "Physics for future Presidents" ["my goal is to cover the physics that future world leaders need to know (and maybe present world leaders too....)."] and is the author of a historical novel called "The Sins of Jesus."

      The assumption that presidents need to understand physics (rather than employ well-informed experts as advisors on the subject) and the profession that Jesus used "magic and deception" to pose as the son of God (based on "historical facts and biblical references") makes me wary of his preaching.