“It is stupid to be categorically against technology. It’s not stupid to distrust technology.
—Neil Factor
“Could solve a mystery / or rewrite history…”
-THE Duck Tales theme song
* * *
My kids wanted me to sit and watch Duck Tales with them this morning – the episode was “Armstrong» from the original Duck Tales in 1987. Gyro Gearloose, a chicken and inventor who works for Uncle Scrooge, invents a “useful” robot named Armstrong. Armstrong can do anything, and Uncle Scrooge quickly takes advantage of the opportunity to replace his entire workforce – his accountants and office workers, his loyal butler Duckworth and his pilot Launchpad – with Armstrong. Armstrong, of course, soon goes rogue, steals all of Uncle Scrooge’s money, and holds Scrooge and his inventor hostage.
* * *
Later in the morning I had one of Audrey Watters’ wonderful newsletters:
I regret to inform you that one of the biggest scammers in the business came out this week with a essay who was inspired Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto. As I have argued elsewhere here at Second breakfastwe can easily connect fascism and welfare, eugenics and fitness – so let’s be really honest about what it means when someone like Marc Andreessen openly embraces this violent right-wing machismo he calls “techno-optimism.” Dave Karpf has a very good answer, and you will learn more from reading this than from reading anything Andreessen ever wrote or did. (Like most entrepreneurs, he has never “done the reading” and one has to wonder if he deliberately borrowed from Marinetti or, more likely, by mere coincidence, if he is also “fueled by fire, hate and speed.”) Another book recommendation, while I think about it: Blood in the machine by Brian Merchant. (…) “Down with all kings except King Ludd. » — Ada Lovelace’s father.
* * *
Since I saw this manifesto, I have done my own shortlist of techno-skeptical books that I would recommend to anyone who feels tempted by such unfettered techno-optimistic nonsense. It would include:
and Thoreau, Mumford, Melville, etc.
I asked some of my friends to help me with the list and the responses ranged from “oh my god, I have to write my book about this” to “how much more can be written on this topic?”
(My friend Alan Jacobs, for example, wrote an essay with the subtitle “Neil Postman was right. So what?» on the fact that such books have been “totally powerless to slow our technosocial momentum, much less to change its direction. “)
* * *
I myself am neither a techno-skeptic nor a techno-optimist, but probably rather what Karpf calls a “techno-pragmatist”.
What I do is look for the appropriate technologies to do the kinds of things I want to do – they’re usually a weird mix of analog and digital, high-tech and low-tech – but still, adopting them thoughtfully requires by asking them the right questions.
If he had asked such questions, Uncle Scrooge would have saved himself a lot of trouble!
