Rating: 
Summary: What would Postman say on this subject today?
Review: Postman discusses "technopoly", as technology's totalitarian grip on our culture. His arguments are sensical if not all convincing, and in buying technology's ills he tends to discount its advantages. He urges readers to "maintain an epistemological and psychic distance from any technology, so that it always appears somewhat strange, never inevitable, never natural." With humans endowed with large brains,keen eyesight,and hands with opposible thumbs, I cannot see how the evolution from tools to today's advanced technologies, is anything but inevitable and natural. In Postman's advice to educate focusing on the continuity of culture, he appears inflexible to the communications revolution where perhaps people have more venues to escape alienation and discontinuity of everyday life.Nonetheless, I enjoyed the read, and would recommend it for those wishing to explore the connections between technology and culture. What would Postman say on this subject today?
Rating:
Summary: Sorry people nothing to see here!
Review: Technopoly is very disappointing. I read Amusing Ourselves to Death and immediately loving it, I ordered everything else I could find by Neil Postman. Im sorry I did it, and I will never order other books by an author based on what I read in one book again. In this book you will find such craziness as why the medical profession would be better off with less technology because it ruins the doctor-patient relationship. Well, next time Neil Postman needs a triple bypass he can go and worry about it somewhere with poor technology in order to enjoy his friendly doctor-patient relationship. The technology of the world has done plenty of harm to the world, but this book will not tell you many legitimate reasons why or how. Stick with Amusing Ourselves to Death and save yourself some money and a few hours you will never get back.
Rating: 
Summary: Dated material, but a revealing look at tech nonetheless
Review: I first picked this book up in high school more than 10 years ago. More recently, as a Ph.D. candidate in engineering, I gave it another read. From both perspectives, a teenager with some grade-school science courses and a tech-saavy graduate student, I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is a book about how technology affects the way a society interprets and thinks about all aspects of life and culture. Postman starts by looking at the past and very low tech (writing, for instance) and ends up examining the tech of the present. This book was first published in the 80s with a reprint in 1993, so some of Post's observations about computers and TV are very dated. I would love to see a 2nd edition to this book to address the technology of today and it's accessibility. Despite the dated comments on present tech (which in the present age is understandibly difficult to keep up with) the overall thesis is highly relevant and this book should be read by all, science and tech enthusiast or no. It will definitely make you think about things you have previously taken for granted. The next time you use any technology, from a pen to a pda to a dvd player, you will ask yourself how this skews your world view. Highly reccomended.
Rating: 
Summary: A must for anyone involved with technology
Review: Postman argues that as the development of technology has progressed, our society has lost the ambiguities and subtleties--the "shades of grey" that make us human. Instead, doctors rely too much on tests rather than trusting their own judgement skills, students are graded primarily on test scores rather than other factors as well. Everything is binary, quantifiable, we want answers yesterday. Our lives are run by technology: we wake up to an alarm clock, our lives are centered around the public transportation schedules and the eleven o'clock news. Although Postman doesn't advocate the abandonment of technology, he does encourage us to be aware that technology is indeed running our lives. The trouble is, most of us are not even aware of the extent that it is, and we need to use technology responsibly. A very thought provoking perspective, I would say. I think anyone who has anything to do with the development of technology should read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Foolishness from academia
Review: Information can be lethal and so can lack of information be lethal ... The idea that computers or media or too much information will make people less human or end childhood is just plain silly. Do you feel less human using a computer as you read this? I don't think so. Postman arguments are foolish whining without basis.
Rating:
Summary: A real eye opener
Review: What is going on with the world to day? If you've ever asked this question this books for you. It not only explains the theories behind the present trends, but forces us to look at what caused them. From the tool age to the technology age, Postman has put before us a look at what our culture values and why. Why do we put values on thing such as the human mind. Is the information we get from the world of technology being filtered or has it become so bad that we are no longer free thinking humans, but controled by what we're told by technology. Read this book and make up you own conclusions on the world in which we live, this Technopoly.
Rating:
Summary: Refutation of our sold-out on technology culture
Review: Postman is an amazing, independent thinker and reflector on our culture. From education to media to technology, Postman is impressive in his insight into the trends and movements that pervades our times. This volume focuses on science and technology taking over much of culture. It's an easy transition of our times to assume that someone that is brilliant enough to make a rocket engine is capable of rendering educational decisions and spiritual ones. Postman thus becomes as he states: "a dissenting voice .. to moderate the din made by enthusiastic multitudes." This will lead many on to further thought and investigation on a key aspect of our times which should not be overlooked.
Rating:
Summary: Technology is not enough
Review: Technology can be a blessing but it can also be a curse. Neil Postman explains why, in a quite sophisticated and honest way. The book is easy reading and very interesting. It makes you think a lot about important social, cultural, and psychological issues.
Rating:
Summary: Advancing Backward?
Review: If in recent years you've noticed a palpable aura of technology gone awry in American society, then Postman's "Technopoly" will assure you that you're not the only one. This meaning that you just might not be an alarmist, defeatist, doomsayer, reactionary or any other title "they" like to bestow upon those concerned with long term consequences (among other aspects). This, of course, does wonders to allay any fears of insanity. If you're purchasing this book, more than likely you've thought about in depth many of the issues that Postman presents. These being computer technology, education, machinery, medicine, et al. The difference is, perhaps, that he clearly presents the issue, looks at the pros and cons, then offers logical conclusions. Conclusions that even computer huggers will have difficulty in deeming irrational. His premise rests on the fact that we always look to what new technolgies add, but ought to pay equal attention to what they take away; arguably similar to the cautionary tales offered by Asimov, Bradbury, Huxley, and Orwell. Following the issues is a chapter devoted to the "resistance fighter" in which Postman offers several principles to resist technopoly. His ninth principle "admire technological ingenuity but do not think it represents the highest possible form of human achievement" perhaps sums up this book. The irony is that technological ingenuity is human achievement, but to ignore or fail to even theorize potential ramifications is neither ingenious nor achieving. Read it, then you make the call.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The book is an uncompelling mixture of techno-skepticism, banality, conservatism, and remediation. In short, an eclectic stew with a catchy title. Postman's main thesis is that America has become a technopoly, which means that culture has lost its moral authority to technology. Technology has become the solution to whatever questions are asked, ushering in the reign of experts. Whatever else, there's a lot to agree with here. But to understand where we are, we have to understand where we've been. Postman presents a three-stage view of history whose main thrust is that traditional religious and metaphysical beliefs have been steadily replaced by scientific methods and utilitarian values, while tradition is viewed as a source of error and a shackle on knowledge. This historical march culminates in the present stage of technopoly, which is defined as a totalitarian technocracy that has swept tradition with its non-technological values and meta-narratives into history's ash can. In short, culture, the last hold-out, has finally surrendered to the conquering armies of technology, making the sweep portentiously complete. (In Postman's taxonomy, computers extend the frontiers of technopoly but do not define it.) All in all, his outline of history's main stages is interesting in detail if not exactly original. However, like others of a Weberian bent, Postman portrays technology as something of an independent force, creating its own logic and standards, taking on a life of its own. Nevertheless, such high-flying abstractions fail to link up with people, and fail to ask the crucial societal question of who owns and directs the technology of our age or any age; that is, in whose interest does nuclear energy, computerization, or surveillance equipment now operate. A taxonomy like Postman's works to obscure this key question and others like it. The problem with the reign of experts may lie not with technology itself, but with those who have the power to direct and set the goals of the research and development. We should be mindful that behind the technology of any age, there are always people and people with definite interests. This is an important sociological approach the book leaves critically unadressed. Postman correctly sees the problem that lies in a computerized information glut versus a lack of meaningful ordering principles, a disconnect that leaves us with mounting piles of meaningless information. His solution however is anemic. He recommends an eclectic return to the meta-narratives of the past, an apparent attempt to re-establish a core of non-technological values within the utilitarian regime of technopoly. Yet how meta-narratives like the Bible or Communist Manifesto can re-establish credibility in a skeptical age that attacks even the authority of science is unclear to say the least. There is a problem of value-grounding in postmodern culture, but one that is not answered by a literary return to the past, no matter how great the appeal. In this key regard the book clearly flounders, and given Postman's prior accomplishments, the book adds up to a trendy disappointment.
|
