The new "smart phones" such as Apple's iPhone have been revealed to be excellent devices for spying on the phones' owners. So this might be a good time to hear Dr. Neil Postman's celebrated and witty lecture, "Technology and Society" (1998).
Postman proposes six questions that society--and individuals--ought to consider before deciding to adopt any particular new technology.
Part 1 (this week) includes some of Postman's introduction and his discussion of the first four questions.
Postman spoke at Calvin College in January 1998. The lecture is available as 7 videos on YouTube.
New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "spreading chestnut tree") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.
Part 2 (next week) includes (1) the final two questions and Postman's remarks on the relationship of TV and religion; (2) a news article on yet another spooky aspect of smart phones; and (3) remarks by law expert Jonathan Zittrain on the government's use of other "smart" wireless technology to spy on citizens (plus still more bad news about the iPhone!).
http://newworldnotes.blogspot.com/ . Permanent link to the entry for this installment: http://newworldnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/technology-and-society.html .
SERIES OVERVIEW: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for. "Date recorded," below, = date of first scheduled broadcast.
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