From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Tue Sep 30 1997 - 16:46:42 MDT
Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
> Felix Ungman <felix@aleph.se> writes:
>
> > Anders Sandberg:
> > >But there can also be cultural quantum jumps that doesn't involve new
> > >physical technology, such as the introduction of mind-maps, modern
> > >book indexing (which increases usability immensely) or the introduction
> > >of new notations in science.
> >
> > I would call mind-mapping a technology, not a sub-culture. But then,
> > the border between technology and culture is fuzzy. Is transhumanism
> > a culture or a technology? Or is it just information?
>
> I would say technology is the stuff we use to acieve various ends,
> usually our perceived wants. Culture is larger, it includes all the
> stuff we do and think, even if it has no real "use". The line can
> be quite fuzzy.
There has been significant scholarship on the linkage between
technologies and social development. Since most new technology prior to
the industrial revolution was weapons oriented, it has been easy to see
how advances in weaponry have forced cultures to evolve. Guns have been
widely credited with nailing the coffin on individual aristocratic power
by might of arms.
The present internet is also seen as the great democratizer of media and
propaganda, which is slowly putting the ideas of majority tyranny,
political aristocracy, and multinational control of media sources to
bed.
>
> What I'm trying to suggest is that a medium can contain cultural
> artifacts, which in turn can contain other systems. For example
> the technology television supports the cultural world of television
> programs, of which some might act as specialized media for more
> specialized cultural activities (like newsprograms, which are
> the medium for television news reporting).
>
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?
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