According to Alfred Whitehead, “the greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the idea of invention itself.” Whether this is true or not is up for debate since everyone has different experiences with technology. In my opinion technology is beneficial at the moment and a few times even unnecessary, but there will come a day when it advances to the point where it ruins people’s lives. These are the issues Postman describes in a chapter of his book. He introduces the concept of technopoly which can be described as “the submission of all forms of cultural life to the sovereignty of technique and technology.” When its stated like this I can’t help but wonder why anyone would want to be submissive to something as lifeless as technology. In novels like Brave New World the individuals live like this but only because they have been classically conditioned to accept it. They have no free will and as Frederick Taylor says they are “worth less than their machinery.” In this world society embraces technopoly because they HAVE to.
The world we live in today can be better defined as a technocracy which is a “society only loosely controlled by social custom and religious tradition and driven by impulse to invent.” It is because of this desire to create that many remarkable inventions have been made, after all, “the idea of newness is closely associated with that of improvement.” People may be skeptical that our society will ever allow technology to be superior to humans, but rules in history have always been bent or broken. It’s exciting knowing we live in a world where you don’t have to drive to someone’s house if you want to see. Instead, all you need is a webcam. And if you’re bored you don’t have to go outside when there’s plenty of games available online. Yes, we are much lazier than the people who lived before there was a television in every home, but we allowed it to happen. That’s the difference between a technopoly and technocracy; the ability to decide. If limits aren’t placed on technology then the outcome may one day be impossible to control. Once that day comes we will have no other choice than to live with the consequences even if it means giving up our free will.
