The Real World Of Technology B Essay -- essays research papers fc

In her book, The literal World of Technology (1999), Ursula M. Franklin argues that technology has a disruptive effect on humanity. If left-unchecked technology will eventually destroy familiarity as we know it. Franklin illustrates her point by focusing on the effects technology has had on society and cultures in the past. She uses examples from China before the Common Era to the Roman Empire, with a majority of examples coming form the last one hundred and fifty years. such as the Industrial Revolution and the invention of electronic mail. Franklin contends that for societys sake, flock must question everything before accepting new technologies into their world. In the book, Franklins argument urges people to put in together and participate in public reviews and discuss or question technological practices that lead to a world that is designed for technology and not for society. The Real World Of Technology attempts to show how society is affected by every new invention that c omes onto the market and supposedly makes life more easy deviation and hassle free while making work more productive and profitable. The lectures argue that technology has built the house in which we live (Franklin, p.1) and that this house is continually changing and be renovated. There is very little human activity outside of the house, and all in habitants are affected by the design of the house, by the division of its space, by the positioning of its doors and walls. (p.1). Franklin claims that rarely does society step outside of the house to live, when compared with generations past. The goal for leaving the house is not to enter the natural environment, because in Franklins terms environment essentially mover what is around us&8230 that constructed, manufactured, built environment that is the day-in-day-out sic setting of much of the contemporary world of technology. (p.89). Nature today is seen as a construct instead of as a force or entity with its own dynamics. (p.85). The book claims that society vies nature the same way as society views infrastructure as something that is there to accommodate us, to help oneself or be part of our lives, subject to our planning. (p.85). Franklin writes in-depth about infrastructure and especially technological infrastructure. She claims that since the Industrial Revolution, corporations as well as governments using public funds... ... to ingest that the influx of technology and societys greater dependence of it may just be another step of evolution. Just as humans grew out of the ape and the peter out of the twig, so to may the children and their tools of tomorrow grow to become something greater than even we can imagine. The Real World of Technology presents a lot of relevant issues with todays world. The points made about the environment illuminate a serious problem and the use of Franklins redemptive technologies are what is needed if there will be any(prenominal) correcting of the damage done. While The Real World of Technology provides useful insights into technologys past and the role it has had on shaping our current way of being. The glimpses into the future are little useful. Franklin can not help but have a biased view of the world to come because she only has the world that she has lived in to use as a comparison and model. The society of the future however, cannot and should not be used to make comparisons, for it will be a society like no other-one that the people of today could not even imagine. Works Cited Franklin, Ursula M. The Real World of Technology. Toronto House of Anansi Press Limited, 1999 ed.