Published by O'Reilly Media in April 2007, under I
on
The Mechanized Future
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· Score: -1, Redundant
Published by O'Reilly Media in April 2007, under ISBNs 0596526806 and 978-0596526801, Devices of the Soul argues that we are now blindly accepting technology with little or no countervailing efforts or even awareness, and we are paying a terrible toll, both individually and as a society.
From the day a child of the 21st century begins his education, he is confronted with mind-numbing statistics, numbers, and facts via the computer -- which he must accept. Perhaps even more important, he must master its "techniques" as the sine qua non tool to be successful in life. This is not a voyage of self-discovery; it is a demand by "the system" that the individual accept a way of viewing the world that invades, conquers, and ultimately controls his life. The child will learn most of what he knows with it, play with it, talk with it, and allow his thinking to be ruled by it -- all because it is the magical machine that gives him access to the world's knowledge, e.g., the Internet.
By the time this child makes the transition from high school to college, he will be required to accept a curriculum that too often lacks meaning and content, that fails to allow him to satisfy his own curiosity about the challenges facing humanity, and is, moreover, expensive and will likely lead to indebtedness. There are few alternatives to this gauntlet, especially if one wishes to belong to the 'credentialed society', which determines modern man's measure of success.
Education is only the first stage in the numbing of our consciousness. What follows is built upon this edifice. Our acceptance of machines -- ubiquitous in our everyday lives -- provides our food, transportation, entertainment, information, and prestige -- in sum, everything we need to function in modern society.
Talbott shows how the machines we use create a grand illusion, namely, that by having every technological gadget, we will save time and money, and be able to spend more time with our family and loved ones. However, that leisure time never materializes. The technology costs more, not less. Consequently, we find ourselves in a perpetual struggle to preserve a bare minimum of human emotions and instincts.
The next stage in the individual's life is integration into the mature world of the computerized economy, i.e., when he becomes a "stakeholder." He accepts a world that does away with human values and subordinates him to "market values." Furthermore, he is bound to lose his sense of privacy.
It follows that almost everyone willingly accepts that advancement in life and career increasingly requires having electronic conversations with machines -- and eventually robots -- that will never ask us what our personal assumptions and/or values are, and have no intentions of doing so. In short, our resistance to the machine fades. It is "far easier to assign the intelligence solely to the machine than to seek out those tortured pathways" to the human urges within us. Society itself, not just the individual, says Talbott, "is unsurprisingly assuming the character of our technology."
The outcome is grim: "Historically, there appears to be an element of tragedy in all this. We stumble along in ignorance and, by the time we realize the subtle ways our actions have caught up with us, the damage and loss are already irrevocable."
Technology expresses itself in numbers and computations divorced from human values. Efficiency is nearly the sole criterion by which modern corporations make decisions, and it is no accident that these two ideas, human values versus efficiency, are mutually exclusive. In objecting to the mess we humans have created, Talbott notes: "If you want human values, if you want qualitative distinctions, then your theoretical constructs must retain those values and distinctions every step of the way. The minute you allow them to collapse into number alone, you have no way to get back from there to the qualitative world."
Despite these tragic overtones, he argues that we can and must return to that qualitative world where we can realize our deepest human qualities. We can
So apparently Sweden has the same problems with blogs and web-boards as Germany. Over here the
blog/board owner can be held responsible for any offensive/illegal content posted by someone on
the discussion board or comments. Even if the owner isn't aware of any such posting. This is called
"disturbance liability". If he is sued and agrees to remove the incriminating content there are some
stiff financial penalties if the poster is continuing.
Slashdot Mirror
god shut up
developers fasd t developers aret4t4 af developers afafds developers afsd xbw developers xbv wretwt developers w5 sgs developers sg sdf developers gsgd gd developers nf gfsadg developers aergf fgd developers afsdadevelopers fasd t developers aret4t4 af developers afafds developers afsd xbw developers xbv wretwt developers w5 sgs developers sg sdf developers gsgd gd developers nf gfsadg developers aergf fgd developers afsdadevelopers fasd t developers aret4t4 af developers afafds developers afsd xbw developers xbv wretwt developers w5 sgs developers sg sdf developers gsgd gd developers nf gfsadg developers aergf fgd developers afsda developers sd809fhsaf dfsa developers sadfj defdsa developers dfgfasd fdsa developers sfdaio asdf developers aspfioa sdokf developers adfioamfds dsf developers adsfok sdfasf
why did u noobs keep downrankin me...... stop stopstop stop stop
i agree with da op
u noobs stop downrankin my posts
stop
stopstopstopstop
sstopstopstopstoptop
stop
stop
u fukken n00bs better quit downranking my comments becuz ur gay
i agree with da op
Published by O'Reilly Media in April 2007, under ISBNs 0596526806 and 978-0596526801, Devices of the Soul argues that we are now blindly accepting technology with little or no countervailing efforts or even awareness, and we are paying a terrible toll, both individually and as a society. From the day a child of the 21st century begins his education, he is confronted with mind-numbing statistics, numbers, and facts via the computer -- which he must accept. Perhaps even more important, he must master its "techniques" as the sine qua non tool to be successful in life. This is not a voyage of self-discovery; it is a demand by "the system" that the individual accept a way of viewing the world that invades, conquers, and ultimately controls his life. The child will learn most of what he knows with it, play with it, talk with it, and allow his thinking to be ruled by it -- all because it is the magical machine that gives him access to the world's knowledge, e.g., the Internet. By the time this child makes the transition from high school to college, he will be required to accept a curriculum that too often lacks meaning and content, that fails to allow him to satisfy his own curiosity about the challenges facing humanity, and is, moreover, expensive and will likely lead to indebtedness. There are few alternatives to this gauntlet, especially if one wishes to belong to the 'credentialed society', which determines modern man's measure of success. Education is only the first stage in the numbing of our consciousness. What follows is built upon this edifice. Our acceptance of machines -- ubiquitous in our everyday lives -- provides our food, transportation, entertainment, information, and prestige -- in sum, everything we need to function in modern society. Talbott shows how the machines we use create a grand illusion, namely, that by having every technological gadget, we will save time and money, and be able to spend more time with our family and loved ones. However, that leisure time never materializes. The technology costs more, not less. Consequently, we find ourselves in a perpetual struggle to preserve a bare minimum of human emotions and instincts. The next stage in the individual's life is integration into the mature world of the computerized economy, i.e., when he becomes a "stakeholder." He accepts a world that does away with human values and subordinates him to "market values." Furthermore, he is bound to lose his sense of privacy. It follows that almost everyone willingly accepts that advancement in life and career increasingly requires having electronic conversations with machines -- and eventually robots -- that will never ask us what our personal assumptions and/or values are, and have no intentions of doing so. In short, our resistance to the machine fades. It is "far easier to assign the intelligence solely to the machine than to seek out those tortured pathways" to the human urges within us. Society itself, not just the individual, says Talbott, "is unsurprisingly assuming the character of our technology." The outcome is grim: "Historically, there appears to be an element of tragedy in all this. We stumble along in ignorance and, by the time we realize the subtle ways our actions have caught up with us, the damage and loss are already irrevocable." Technology expresses itself in numbers and computations divorced from human values. Efficiency is nearly the sole criterion by which modern corporations make decisions, and it is no accident that these two ideas, human values versus efficiency, are mutually exclusive. In objecting to the mess we humans have created, Talbott notes: "If you want human values, if you want qualitative distinctions, then your theoretical constructs must retain those values and distinctions every step of the way. The minute you allow them to collapse into number alone, you have no way to get back from there to the qualitative world." Despite these tragic overtones, he argues that we can and must return to that qualitative world where we can realize our deepest human qualities. We can
So apparently Sweden has the same problems with blogs and web-boards as Germany. Over here the blog/board owner can be held responsible for any offensive/illegal content posted by someone on the discussion board or comments. Even if the owner isn't aware of any such posting. This is called "disturbance liability". If he is sued and agrees to remove the incriminating content there are some stiff financial penalties if the poster is continuing.
I agree with the OP.
step 1: in soviet russia, step 1 you step 2: over 9000 steps step 2: ??? step 3: Profit