Is Technology Moral?
Media Ecology: A Critical Analysis of the Postmodern Media Environment
Media Ecologist and Theorist, Neil Postman posed the question; “Is technology Moral?”. Technology as defined by Dictionary.com; “is the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects of their civilisation”. (Dictionary.com, N.d.). Postman further elaborates, “A medium is a substance/technology in which a culture grows, that is it gives form to a cultures politics, social organisation and habitual ways of thinking”. (N. Postman, 1992.). Technology can be viewed as an extension of the human experience, therefore the question is; Are Humans Moral? As we bring ourselves, our experiences and our expectations, to the media or technologies we interact with, isn’t it then dependent upon what our moralities and ethics are when we create the technology or media as a producer or creator and interact with the media or technology as an audience or participator. Does it improve morality or corrupt it? Technology and media does not have the power to improve or corrupt morality, humans that create and use the technologies or media have the power to improve or corrupt morality, it is the intent of the viewer, participator, producer and creator of the media as to what the moral or ethical code is of that technology or media and that can change depended upon the audiences decoding of that media or technology.
Where do morals and ethics fit in the conversation of the impact of media and technology on society? Morals and ethics fit into the impact on society in social and psychological ways, but just like past media, we still relate to one another, possibly more than if we weren’t connected via the internet, we still have personal and shared life experiences and we still have a sense of self. What gets difficult are peoples ethics or morals can be very different, for example my morals are very different to say someone born in the 1950’s that was married to one partner. What I regard as sexually moral in todays postmodern reality or an appropriate outfit, someone from the 1950’s may regard as immoral. Therefore peoples technological and media morality and ethical value systems may be defined by their creative and personal communities, for example friends, family, other artists, collaborators, fans, audience members, label owners, and producers in that discipline. Morals and ethics fit into the conversation of the impact of media and technology on society, by way of opening up conversation and questioning the morals and ethics of those that create the politics, social and cultural mediums of todays environment and connection to others with the same view or opinion. Therefore giving us a greater connection to a community with the same ideologies and values, and wider access to knowledge to create and form our ideologies. In today’s society and technology based augmented media scape, I believe we are privileged to be able to access the amount of knowledge and choose what technologies, media, discourses and therefore what ideologies, values and phenomena create our identity, opinions and beliefs and community we interact with and our morals and ethics. As this community is a global community or Global village, we interact with a diversity of cultures and demographics, leading to a widening of perceptions and opinions, leading to a greater understanding and acceptance of others at a social level. If knowledge is power then with the case of technology and media, there has never been a greater time than the present for a mass populace to research, investigate, educate and understand the cultural, social and political movements of our time, and come up with your own conclusion to what you want to be part of and have value in. As we live in an augmented virtual world anything can be true and anything can be false, it just depend on your values and ideologies, and this is the beauty of today’s times, the individualities, the acceptance and understanding of others, differences and unique attributes in a globalised world of networks and connections, that in turn creates and impacts social, political and cultural change.
Technology and media have led to many cultural shifts in my life most notable in forming my ideologies early on in life with literature, like George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, J R R Tolkien, then later with music, like Nirvana, Massive Attack and Spectrasoul and now with the internet and the globalised interconnected world. Technologies and media are an extension of my human experience via; communication, socialisation, education, culture, art, expression or voicing my views, entertaining, escapism, shopping, my finances, relaxation, exercise, marketing, promoting, work/career and networking. Technologies and media construct my perceptions of the world by gaining knowledge, skills, a diversity of opinions to understand society and culture from many perceptions, content and form, gaining a wider view of the world and connection to more people, entertainment and excitement, with participatory interactions with the medium. Marshal McLuhan has slightly different theories and opinions, discussed in work ‘The Medium is the Message’, describing the medium is what impacts society not the intentions of the viewer.
“The medium is the message” is McLuhan’s wake-up call to individuals and educators who, like most people, tend to ignore the medium and only pay attention to content. McLuhan’s goal was the liberation of the human mind and spirit from its subjugation to symbol systems, media, and technologies. This can only begin with a call to pay attention to the medium, because it is the medium that has the greatest impact on human affairs, not the specific messages we send or receive. It is the symbolic form that is most significant, not the content. It is the technology that matters the most, its nature and its structure, and not our intentions. It is the materials that we work with, and the methods we use to work with them, that have the most to do with the final outcome of our labours. (Mcluhan, M. 1964.).
I am still in the opinion as stated above, that it is the intent of the creator and participator of the media, and the coding and decoding of the media. Then I may decode McLuhan’s theories and filter out what I find of value as an audience of the text. This would be relatable to my ideologies, for example “it is the intentions of the creators of the media and the messages encoded in the media and ways in which we work with them, usually defined by the creator, is what has the ability to impact society”. (Mcluhan, M. 1964.).
The near future is where the evolution of technology and media becomes exciting for the positive impacts to society, and will change how we interact with the medium and the encoded messages of the medium with VR technology and headsets. Paving a new way for technology to truly be the extension of the human experience. By changing the gestual stance when using the medium, the interconnectedness to our media environment and interactions with it and the way in which we collaborate and network with other individuals in an immersive 360 degree space. Here is a Youtube video with a more detailed description of the possibilities of the technology and media environment of the near future.
Neil Postman’s point-of-view of media and technologies impact to society was extreme and very narrow minded , he didn’t see technology as an extension of the human experience but more of an depletion of the human experience. To those with similar ideologies this metaphor would of been relevant when it was introduced, though to those with different ideologies, this theory may not of been relevant or they may have decoded the message differently then Postman’s intent or filtered out what they found as of value and disregard the rest. Media Ecologist Henry Jenkins has theories that are more related to the Postmodern mediascape of todays technological conventions and the internet and the positive impacts of todays convergence culture. For example the infrastructure of connections that we can take anywhere with us and the learning through play, taking risks and interacting with technology and others through being entertained and excited.( Jenkins, H. 2013). Following is the full interview with Jenkins.
What I do believe applicable from Neil Postman’s theories, especially to todays media environment, is to educate students and adults about media and technology. Postman states; “Students need to be educated in the history, social effects and psychology biases of technology”. (N. Postman. 2000.). If we are discussing morals and ethics of media and technology then like Postman, I believe it is up to us to create this discourse in the history, social effects and psychology biases of technology as we are forging the new way as Creators in this Postmodern media scape and technological environment.
References:
Dictionary.com. (N.d). Technology: definition [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/technology
Jenkins, Henry. (2013) Henry Jenkins [Youtube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nrWcFPjnCc
McLuhan, Marshall. (1964). Studying media as media: McLuhan and the media ecology approach [Article]. Author: Lance Strate, Publisher: Fordham University, strate@fordham.edu. Retrieved from https://fordham.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1004&context=comm_facultypubs
TED. (April 11, 2016). Meron Gribetz: A glimpse of the future through an augmented reality headset [Youtube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ZOpQzjukY
Thompson, Louise. (N.d). Are humans moral? [Meme]. Retrieved from http://holdinholden.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/daria.jpg (Original image).
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Postman, N. (1995). The end of education: redefining the value of school. New York: Random House, Inc.
Postman, N. (2000). Media Ecology: a brief overview: Postman interview [Youtube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=291&v=ilHHAAcSJz4
