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Job displacement, loss of privacy, climate change, radiation, cyberbullying: New technologies disrupt lives for better and worse. Tempting as it is to trace the shadow side of progress to the Digital Age or the Industrial Revolution, change has always wreaked some degree of havoc.
Take printing. Welcomed by all? Thanks to Rev. Scott Prinster for this quote from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2, which the Bard puts in the mouth of rebel Jack Cade: “Be it known unto thee by these presence, that I am the besom [broom] that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used, and, contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that talk of a noun and a verb, and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear.”
6 Comments
Dennis Doren
9/3/2018 08:49:57 am
You could add the invention of the telescope which led to Galileo's excommunication due to its perceived negative effect on religious beliefs, medical advances that are seen as amoral while promising treatments for diseases (think stem cell research), and the technology behind the stock market that has facilitated both the ability of the masses to participate as possibly crashes. Technological progress happens despite those who oppose it. To paraphrase a commonly known utterance from Star Trek, resistance is (not completely) futile, (but) you will (eventually) be assimilated.
Dennis, great examples. These cases suggest there's more to explore on the distinction between changes that produce actual harm and those opposed on moral grounds by people I disagree with - a subjective judgment, certainly. We can't stop technological change. Collectively we may be able to shape its effects to increase the ratio of "better" to "worse." I don't know the play well enough to know if Shakespeare sympathized with the rebel Cade or disdained him, or some of each. Early printing, like computers more recently, added another divide between the haves and the have-nots. I wonder if Shakespeare had any thoughts of his works living for centuries in print, or it they were just entertainment like the new season's sitcoms.
Walter Hassenpflug
9/4/2018 11:19:35 am
In their book (Future Shock) released in1970, Alvin and Heidi Toffler examine the effects of the rapid industrial and technological changes upon the individual, the family, and society.
Walter, your observations and tie-in with personal experience are thought-provoking, as always. The changes the Tofflers foresaw have already happened (not that all schools have caught up yet). It's happening faster than we can keep up with. By the time formal education catches up with the importance of teaching Arabic or Mandarin Chinese, what language do you suppose will be the real need of the moment? Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin.
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