Devices of benefit become means of control
22 May 2023
PHILIP FITZPATRICK
TUMBY BAY - The South Australian government has just finished building a new double-circuit 132kV transmission line to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula near to where I live in Tumby Bay.
The former transmission line was more than 50 years old and prone to regular breakdowns.
A few years ago the line was knocked out by a storm and people were without power for several weeks.
The new line will hook into the State’s advanced renewable energy network and should be a lot more reliable.
During the final phase of construction it was necessary to turn our power off for eight or more hours on consecutive Sundays. The last outage was a week ago.
For a remote region like ours, the transmission line acts as an umbilical cord to the rest of Australia and the world.
It’s an interesting experience waking up without electricity and an internet connection.
After making a cup of tea on my camping stove, I wandered into my study and beheld my dead and useless desktop computer sitting next to its equally dead and forlorn internet modem.
From a lively source of information, services and entertainment these devices had been reduced to inert shells housing mysterious gizmos that before the electricity went off made the world go round.
Beholding the unconscious carcasses, it occurred to me how technology has succeeded in making people incredibly vulnerable.
This age of the push button and finger swipe seems to have crept up by stealth and rendered us virtually impotent to stop it.
In a way we’ve fallen into a trap with no way out. If someone were to switch off the technology, where would we be?
There is no doubt that technology has brought incredible benefits but, for us to partake of those technological advances, we must buy into the whole project. To drink the Kool-Aid, the adage goes.
And once we’re engaged we must keep up with its nerve-racking pace. For those of us who are ageing, keeping up with the advances, changes and new benefits seems to get harder and harder.
With ageing also comes a re-assessment of values and a keener appreciation of what is important in life and what is not.
However in our high-tech world, there seems no place for navel-gazing. It is full steam ahead and bad luck for those of us who fall by the wayside.
And now we have artificial intelligence, which on the face of it seems to be an effort to re-engineer humanity and abandon the reality of human origins in the natural world.
My car is 14 years old and, despite its age, is entirely run by computers. I haven’t got the faintest idea how it all works and no hope of fixing anything if it goes amiss.
My car actually dictates to me, the owner, what to do when driving and admonishes me when I do something wrong.
It’s a small taste of what life in a world of artificial intelligence might be like. The feeling of loss and control is intimidating.
For every technological advance, every innovation and every labour saving device, we are threatened with the loss of another naturally-learned skill.
Furthermore, accompanying these forfeitures can be part of our ability to think and reason.
Why bother to wonder about something when we can press, swipe or twist and an algorithm does it for us.
And, it seems to me, the more we lose control the more we fall under the spell of the technology nerds and vendors and the masters of the universe who conceive, develop and manipulate them.
The muting of my ancient computer and modem because of a temporary pause in the electricity supply may be simple happenstance but one day, in a dystopian future that may not be so distant, this loss of access and control may not be innocent or beyond suspicion.
It is already well-established in authoritarian regimes that access to information, whether delivered by internet, radio wave or newspaper, can be denied, limited or distorted at will.
Perhaps one day not far into the future, shutting down a country’s electrical supply and information sources will be used not only in dictatorships but in countries like our own.
Who is to say that some Trumpian character seeking power and control will not consider doing just that?
We citizens would be both literally without power and powerless to stop such authoritarian assailants.
Several additional authors who tackle scientism, objectivism and positivism include Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Feyerabend
Posted by: Bernard Corden | 25 May 2023 at 01:59 PM
I doubt that Ellul would have had a problem with the MagLite per se but might wonder what people might do if such things disappeared and people had forgotten all about matches.
He said, “Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilisation, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.”
The crux, he thought, was “distinguishing between what we want to keep and what we are ready to lose, between what we can welcome as legitimate human development and what we should reject with our last ounce of strength as dehumanisation.”
He reckons we lose a lot when technology becomes so sacred it replaces our spiritual beliefs.
I wonder what he would think about all those people now wandering around openly and publically worshipping their smart phones.
Todays' story by Alexander Nara about his dead cigarette lighter strikes a chord.
Posted by: Philip Fitzpatrick | 25 May 2023 at 09:59 AM
Phil, it's already happening.
Since the time I first typed-up this poem, the vast majority of preferred household lighting is now LED rather than halogen, including solar powered LED street lighting and, as I understand, vehicles use more LED than halogen as well.
And for the MagLite, almost every manchild in rural villages nowadays has an LED head-strapped personal lamp, the sort that mountaineers and cave explorers wear.
They're very useful, light, hands-free, have three modes (strong, dim, flashing) and are relatively inexpensive (about K5-K10). They're in high demand. I end up giving mine away on field trips.
While heading out from Gagidu on my last field trip to bush Kotte, I was given a free carton of match boxes by some Panamex salesman.
I duly handed the box over to our host that evening. He received it graciously but then looked at me with a glint in his eye while saying, "Mipela wanwan man-meri na olgeta mandi tu isave holim simuk-laita nau long ples na lus tingting pinis long masis stik". [All the men and women and even children in the village hold cigarette lighters and have already forgotten about matchsticks.]
We still use kerosene lamps in the chicken houses as a cheap and convenient heat source for brooding day-old-chicks. They're plentiful and all Made in China (another good reason to shrug off the US deal?).
I think bubu is ROFL in his grave. Although, how he may have heard about all this, um dunno. That's technology for you.
As for this Jaques Ellul, I'm glad he had a rude awakening from his readings of Karl Marx.
Posted by: Michael Dom | 23 May 2023 at 08:08 AM
I like that Chris - technocrats as sorcerers.
Posted by: Philip Fitzpatrick | 22 May 2023 at 04:23 PM
The French philosopher and theologian Jacques Ellul makes a very important distinction between technique and technology in his book 'The Technological Society'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Technological_Society
Posted by: Bernard Corden | 22 May 2023 at 01:44 PM
Phil and those who have commented upon his article have all made good and pertinent points. I especially like Michael Dom's poem.
In the distant past, there arose priestly castes or classes whose members purported to have a special insight and understanding about the world that hugely surpassed that of ordinary folk.
Through certain rituals and the possession of uncommon skills such as the ability to read and write, sometimes in a special language, or through the mastery of astronomy and mathematics, they secured authority, power and influence.
The successors to these castes or classes still exist today and they still claim special insight and understanding that surpasses that provided by scientific inquiry. Specifically, they claim knowledge of the supernatural powers that according to their dogma created the universe and control our individual and collective destinies. Many people believe them.
Now a new and similar class of people is emerging who claim to understand the mysterious world of computers and information technology and how it can be used to enrich our lives. They urge us to embrace this technology on the basis that it is overwhelmingly benign and wonderful.
It is, in fact, true that these technologies have enriched our lives in some important respects. In particular, the ability to communicate with one another has been massively increased, collapsing the 'tyranny of distance' that has been such a powerful influence on how our world has developed over the centuries.
Unhappily, the same technology has more sinister effects such as those described by Phil, but especially it has enhanced and extended the ability of those who are ignorant or stupid or bent upon doing evil to propagate ideas that are wrong and destructive to humanity in a host of ways.
Right now, we are collectively doing very badly at dealing with these sinister effects partly at least because new class of godlings such as Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg, and many lesser godlings as well, do not wish to see any constraints imposed upon 'free speech'.
In essence, their business models rely upon unfettered communication with and between the consumers from whom they derive their immense wealth and privilege.
It is no exaggeration to say that the new class of 'masters of the universe' have aggregated unto themselves so much power and influence that they can bend governments to their will.
History indicates that this is a very dangerous development for ordinary folk. No good ever comes from the creation of a class of super rich individuals who exert effective control of a significant part of the economy or the state.
While the lessons of history are plain enough, they are either being ignored or dismissed as not being relevant in our brave new world. Ignoring or dismissing the lessons of history is always a dangerous mistake.
While I would never assert that history can be used to predict the future, it does provide some guidance about human nature and how our clever technologies are inevitably a two-edged sword.
History may not repeat but it does rhyme and those who lead us ought to bear this in mind as they grapple with the consequences of technologies that often are only truly understood (if at all) by a tiny sub-set of the population.
If we insist on playing with socio-cultural dynamite, we should not be too surprised if there is an unexpected and catastrophic explosion.
Posted by: Chris Overland | 22 May 2023 at 12:56 PM
There's a forgettable film starring Sean Connery who ends up jumping out of an aircraft after he explains that he isn't jumping into danger for the sake of an important item of news per se but merely as a segment in the nightly entertainment of people watching evening TV.
I recently read about the vast numbers of those in the US who make up the annual statistics of people who overdose themselves on opioids that are produced in China and marketed through Mexican drug cartels.
No wonder there are acceptable immigration numbers to make up the shortfalls.
This isn't science fiction or Hollywood any more. This has become reality.
Posted by: Paul Oates | 22 May 2023 at 11:21 AM
I wonder whether "such things will come to pass", Michael.
Maybe one day the remaining humans on the planet will be sitting by the light of their fire wondering what happened to their smart arse ancestors.
PS, I've got an old kerosene heater and a Tilley lamp in the shed.
Posted by: Philip Fitzpatrick | 22 May 2023 at 11:18 AM
Spaces allocated to persons sleeping on slave trade vessels some centuries ago were precisely portent to technology that requires no human cast of measure.
Posted by: Lindsay F Bond | 22 May 2023 at 10:24 AM
The obituary to late Chief John Kasaipwalova and now this article from Phil Fitzpatrick have reminded me of an old poem of mine, and one that was also enjoyed by Russell Soaba.
I was reading that poem again this morning, after posting on the Ples Singsing blog. I've also had it outlined for a writer's seminar which never eventuated, where I was going to provide some ideas about approaching poem composition.
But now I myself can understand this poem better from a different vantage point of age, experience and sense of loss. Thanks Phil.
There's also a poster version that I created, for which I can now see the colour scheme inspiration from the covers of 'Reluctant Flame' and 'Hanuabada'.
Here's the poem itself.
In light of such wisdom, I am found wanting
There was a battered old kerosene lamp
of which my bubu had inordinate pride
He kept it lit at his bedside mat
besides the firelight at night
I’d always wondered why he’d bothered
to keep that relic of times long past
He’d always wondered why I’d ask
for his purpose seemed sure enough
And although my MagLite made him gasp
he said, “Such things will come to pass”.
Awash in fire and lamplight both
we’d sit together of a night
ruminating each on the other’s plight
Mine modern –carefree, careless curiosities
His ancient –careworn, careful custodianship
On those brightly lit city streets
of which I had inordinate pride
Electric bulbs burn overhead
besides the television light at night
Too tired to ponder, why even bother
to regard such technological badges
Those wondrous gizmo’s and cool gadgets
for my purpose seemed sure enough
And although my modernity makes me laugh
he said, “Such things will come to pass”.
Awash in streetlamps and headlight beams both
there are no quiet sitting places
Every rambling soul has a lonely plight
In a brightly lit city with its haunted inhabitants
or a village hut darkened by my bubu’s ghost
- Michael Dom (1 July 2011)
Dedicated to Soaba’s Story Board. Published in the Writer’s Forum, The National newspaper, 8 July 2011 (reproduced here with some editing)
Posted by: Michael Dom | 22 May 2023 at 10:10 AM
Thanks Bernard. Given that Postman was writing in 1984 pre-social media you have to add it to his comments about television.
He prefers Huxley's 'Brave New World' to Orwell's '1984', Paul.
Here's what he says according to Wikipedia:
"Postman distinguishes the Orwellian vision of the future, in which totalitarian governments seize individual rights, from that offered by Aldous Huxley in 'Brave New World', where people medicate themselves into bliss, thereby voluntarily sacrificing their rights.
"Drawing an analogy with the latter scenario, Postman sees television's entertainment value as a present-day 'soma', the fictitious pleasure drug in 'Brave New World', by means of which the citizens' rights are exchanged for consumers' entertainment.
"The essential premise of the book, which Postman extends to the rest of his argument(s), is that 'form excludes the content', that is, a particular medium can only sustain a particular level of ideas.
"Thus rational argument, integral to print typography, is militated against by the medium of television for this reason. Owing to this shortcoming, politics and religion are diluted, and 'news of the day' becomes a packaged commodity.
"Television de-emphasises the quality of information in favour of satisfying the far-reaching needs of entertainment, by which information is encumbered and to which it is subordinate.
"Postman asserts the presentation of television news is a form of entertainment programming; arguing that the inclusion of theme music, the interruption of commercials, and 'talking hairdos' bear witness that televised news cannot readily be taken seriously.
"Postman further examines the differences between written speech, which he argues reached its prime in the early to mid-nineteenth century, and the forms of televisual communication, which rely mostly on visual images to 'sell' lifestyles.
"He argues that, owing to this change in public discourse, politics has ceased to be about a candidate's ideas and solutions, but whether he comes across favourably on television. Television, he notes, has introduced the phrase 'now this', which implies a complete absence of connection between the separate topics the phrase ostensibly connects.
"Larry Gonick used this phrase to conclude his 'Cartoon Guide to (Non) Communication', instead of the traditional 'the end'.
"Postman refers to the inability to act upon much of the so-called information from televised sources as the information-action ratio.
"He contends that 'television is altering the meaning of 'being informed' by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation—misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing.
"Drawing on the ideas of media scholar Marshall McLuhan – altering McLuhan's aphorism 'the medium is the message' to 'the medium is the metaphor' – he describes how oral, literate, and televisual cultures radically differ in the processing and prioritisation of information; he argues that each medium is appropriate for a different kind of knowledge.
"The faculties requisite for rational inquiry are simply weakened by televised viewing.
"Accordingly, reading, a prime example cited by Postman, exacts intense intellectual involvement, at once interactive and dialectical; whereas television only requires passive involvement.
"Postman argues that commercial television has become derivative of advertising. Moreover, modern television commercials are not 'a series of testable, logically ordered assertions' rationalising consumer decisions, but 'is a drama—a mythology, if you will—of handsome people' being driven to 'near ecstasy by their good fortune' of possessing advertised goods or services.
"The truth or falsity of an advertiser's claim is simply not an issue" because more often than not "no claims are made, except those the viewer projects onto or infers from the drama."
"Because commercial television is programmed according to ratings, its content is determined by commercial feasibility, not critical acumen. Television in its present state, he says, does not satisfy the conditions for honest intellectual involvement and rational argument.
"He repeatedly states that the eighteenth century, the 'Age of Reason', was the pinnacle for rational argument. Only in the printed word, he states, could complicated truths be rationally conveyed.
"Postman gives a striking example: many of the first 15 US presidents could probably have walked down the street without being recognised by the average citizen, yet all these men would have been quickly known by their written words.
"However, the reverse is true today. The names of presidents or even famous preachers, lawyers, and scientists call up visual images, typically television images, but few, if any, of their words come to mind.
"The few that do almost exclusively consist of carefully chosen soundbites. Postman mentions Ronald Reagan, and comments upon Reagan's abilities as an entertainer."
Posted by: Philip Fitzpatrick | 22 May 2023 at 10:04 AM
Dear Phil - The late Neil Postman wrote extensively on surrendering our culture to technology:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death
Posted by: Bernard Corden | 22 May 2023 at 09:16 AM
Have you recently read 1984 perchance? George Orwell predicted this happening 80 odd years ago.
Posted by: Paul Oates | 22 May 2023 at 09:15 AM