Technological Determinism and Modern Ideology

Technological Determinism and Modern Ideology

As technology becomes increasingly advanced and literacy becomes increasingly tied to one’s use and access to technology, many questions arise about the availability of this technology. New technologies continue to develop, especially those that directly pertain to literacy or writing. The biggest problem, however, is the problem of access. Is there opportunity for equal access? When looking at computers and the Internet, this seems to be a large problem. Even with an older technology, like the telephone, many people are without access. Although there are around 600 million telephones in the world, two-thirds of the world’s population still do not use these telephones or do not have access to them (Gergen 15). So how does technological determinism affect our social ideology? Or does our social ideology affect technological determinism? I think that it works both ways. There are negative possibilities for all new technology, just as there are positive ones.

Technological determinism, as defined by George Rodman is “a theory that states that the introduction of new technology changes society, sometimes in unexpected ways” (40). He goes on to tell that after the introduction of printing, our culture shifted from an oral one to one driven by writing and literacy. The coming of the “digital age” could have a similar effect. As a science fiction writer and proponent of various technologies, Douglas Adams is asked about this subject quite often:

Over the last few years I’ve regularly been cornered by nervous publishers or broadcasters or journalists or filmmakers and asked about how I think computers will affect their various industries…But it’s a hard question to answer because it’s based on a faulty model. It’s like trying to explain to the Amazon River, the Mississippi, the Congo, and the Nile how the coming of the Atlantic Ocean will affect them. The first thing to understand is that river rules will no longer apply (117).

Obviously, the advent of computers as a tool of literacy will have a huge impact on the face of literacy as it stands right now.

Technological determinism seems inevitable, but the effects of the impending technologies are not as easy to predict. Depending on our society’s view of the emerging technology, it could either be used to bridge the cultural gap that exists between the income levels in our society, or to widen it.