A History of Media Technology Scares

jamesswift writes "Vaughan Bell at Slate has written an interesting article on the centuries old phenomenon of hysterical suspicion surrounding new media and the technologies that enable them. 'A respected Swiss scientist, Conrad Gessner, might have been the first to raise the alarm about the effects of information overload. In a landmark book, he described how the modern world overwhelmed people with data and that this overabundance was both "confusing and harmful" to the mind. The media now echo his concerns with reports on the unprecedented risks of living in an "always on" digital environment. It's worth noting that Gessner, for his part, never once used e-mail and was completely ignorant about computers. That's not because he was a technophobe but because he died in 1565.' The best line comes near then end: 'The writer Douglas Adams observed how technology that existed when we were born seems normal, anything that is developed before we turn 35 is exciting, and whatever comes after that is treated with suspicion.'"

Comments

Re:Good quote

[bluefoxlucid]

The sad part is I know I'm uniquely strange BECAUSE I roughly understand how EVERY SINGLE THING in the universe works. There's nothing I can't explain on at least a basic level. Cell phone? Yep. NAND? Yep. My guitar amp? Yep. My computer's entire architecture, front to back? Yep. My car? ... is annoying with its computerized drive-by-wire bullshit, but yep. YOUR car? Automatic sucks, but I know how the (unbelievably complex shittastic) transmission works in that too. Cruise missiles? Vaguely. Satellite TV? Yeah. Bread? Of course, that's easy. Sourdough bread? Even easier, it's yeast AND bacteria in a symbiosis, with the bacteria deriving more food for the yeast by taking complex parts off the starch and inadvertently emitting single-molecule glucose for the yeast to consume. Beer? Yeah easy enough. Metallurgical properties that make superalloys function? ... well I know that nickel-steel-tungsten based superalloys can handle temperatures above 1100F, or even some above 1800F; it's something about the nickel, tungsten is present in trace amounts though and does have a huge impact on hardness in particular. The list goes on, and on, and on....