As each new season brings more waves of higher-tech digital products, I
often think of Mark Twain. Along with being a brilliant writer, he was also
an ill-fated investor -- fascinated with the latest technical innovations,
including the strides toward functional typewriters and typesetting
equipment as the 19th century neared its close.
Twain would have marveled at the standard PC that we take for granted
now. But what would he have made of the intrusiveness of present-day media
technology -- let alone its recurring content?
It’s getting harder and harder to drive out of cell-phone range -- that
is, if you really want to. And judging from scenes at countless remote
locations, many people would rather not forfeit 24/7 phone access for
conversations that involuntary eavesdroppers hear half of. (Virtually
always, it seems, the more boring half.)
These days, mainstream media fascination with blogs and the bloggers
who love them often seems to assume that the very use of the Internet
enhances the content or style of what has been written. It’s a seductive
cyber-fantasy. Speed is useful, and so are hyperlinks and visuals-on-demand,
but -- fortunately or not, depending on your point of view -- there’s no
digital invisible hand that can move any piece of writing very far along the
road to worthwhile reading.
A central paradox of the rapid advances in media technologies is that
the quantum leaps in computer hard drives and software have been accompanied
by an approximately zero boost in human mental capacity -- or in what we
refer to with such words as “insight,” “wisdom” and “compassion.” You can’t
visit a local mall or an online site and pull out a credit card to purchase
an upgrade in gray matter or human connection.
The momentum of digital communications has conveyed a sense of
inevitability. As last year’s cutting-edge gizmos become old hat, resistance
appears to be futile. But the question is not whether we’re “pro” or “anti”
technology. More pertinent are inquiries like: What’s the point of all this
hyper-computerized stuff? How does it relate to the most important meanings
of life?
To explore the answers to such questions, even the finest desktops and
search engines are unlikely to be much help. Mega-outfits like Microsoft and
Google offer incredible ease and speed. When we’re seeking information or
images, they can do almost everything better and faster than we can --
except think and reflect, feel and create, love and mourn...
A half-century ago, there was much talk about the fear that machines
would replace people in the workplace. Now, “automation” has an almost
quaint ring to it. But the high premium put on speedily moving a business
agenda goes back many decades. “In an age of advanced technology,” Aldous
Huxley foresaw, “inefficiency is the sin against the Holy Ghost.”
In recent years, the corporate emphasis on the efficient use -- and,
let’s face it, exploitation -- of human beings has become more overbearing.
By now, no one expects a big company to exhibit much loyalty to employees in
the long run. And the ubiquitous presence of media technologies in the
workaday world, from computer to cell phone to BlackBerry, has facilitated
chronic employer demands for greater “productivity.” While a new digital
gizmo may serve the worker, that worker is still expected to serve
management’s often-insatiable drive for profits -- more efficiently than
ever.
News outlets routinely provide breathless accounts of the latest
digital dazzles. But precious little media attention focuses on the deeper
qualities of the human experience, the content of the lightning-fast
communications or the ultimate end-product. Data streams move faster than
the eye can see. Information doesn’t flow, it rockets. But what’s it all
for?
Even the most wondrous media technologies can’t supply an iota of
meaning. Yet the prevalent media discourse keeps equating digital
breakthroughs with human breakthroughs. But that’s a very dubious
proposition.
_______________________________________
Norman Solomon’s latest book is “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits
Keep Spinning Us to Death.” For information, go to:
www.WarMadeEasy.com