Saturday 9 November 2013

Theory for today - technological determinism #edcmooc

I find the position of technological determinism, with it's associated terminology, theories and definitions easy to accept in an age when technology permeates almost every aspect of our lives and almost all communication is processed through some form of computer network. However, I can remember the pre web/internet age when I could be persuaded that I was some other kind of determinist, or perhaps many kinds of determinists in one person!

This discussion reminds me of Jean Baudrillard's ideas of hyper reality. For a brief moment in time, around the time of the First Gulf war "The Gulf War did not take place" [1] there seemed to be a perfect fit between theorist, theory and the (un) real world. Perhaps this is the same with Technological Determinism. It has a brief but perfect fit with a world engulfed by technology. Once new technology is digested and integrated though it may seem out moded?

[1] Baudrillard, J. 1995. The Gulf War did not take place. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

No comments:

Post a Comment