Near the end of the first chapter of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman states that with each tool created by man comes a suggesting idea embedded into it. For example, the invention of eyeglasses did not simply improve the vision of those with the defect of bad eyesight, but also led us to believe that we, as human beings, do not have to give in to the disadvantages that time and nature bring (i.e., the deterioration of our vision over time). So how far have we come since this idea was first presented to us?
Last Sunday night, I was watching the 400 m. semi-final race in the Olympics. Oscar Pistorius, a South African athlete, was the first double-amputee to compete in track and field in the history of the Olympic games. Both of his legs were amputated at a young age due to a congenital disease, but he has lived with carbon fiber prosthetic legs for years. I realized how far we have developed since the invention of eyeglasses. Even a defect such as a lost limb is replaceable. Pistorius failed to make it through to the finals, but he was still an inspiration. He was admired by his able-bodied competitors, as well as others who are also physically handicapped.
It seems that Postman was right. Man does not have to simply accept the endowments of time and nature. Do you believe this stemmed from the invention of eyeglasses? If each man-made tool does, in fact, bring an idea, what is the idea embedded in the carbon fiber of this man’s prosthetic legs? Is it that a more improved man that could outrun an able-bodied man is possible? If so, what does that mean for this world? Are we claiming to be more superior than our God by the developments in our technology? Or is this over-speculation of the technology that saves lives?
Necessity is the mother of invention. Humans invent things that we think we need or make our lives easier, hence the invention of the Internet and computer. Whether or not this could potentially destroy the human race as a whole is debatable case, but anything is possible. Humans have already accomplished so much. We have flown to the moon, landed a rover a Mars, created a bomb that could ruin our entire planet, and so much more. There seems to be no limit to what humans are capable of achieving, and with this, I do believe that a man advanced by a type of technology will be able to outrun an able-bodied man in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThis really is a really is a revolutionary thought that he states in his book. I noticed that in The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, he mentions the same concept in Chapter Two, “The Vital Paths.” He tells the story of a man who buys a typewriter to be able to write again by memorizing the keys after his eyesight started to fail in the years. It was so inspirational! However, a friend noticed how much his writing style changed- how “there was a new forcefulness to it…” He writes to him saying, “My ‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of the pen and paper.” So basically, this over-speculation does change our lives, and it does help us immensely, but our way of thinking may change just by its material.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading that chapter in Amusing Ourselves to Death, I thought about how unnatural it is. How we really weren't meant to challenge nature like that, if god really wanted us to improve our vision wouldn't he have given us a natural remedy to cure blindness? Then again, some may argue that there is no god. I believe we where given the tools to do great, and that we where meant to improve our capabilities. We do not sit there with a broken pencil, and believe that with just that our assignment is complete, we sharpen it, we improve it, we fix it and move on. I do not believe that is defying god, i think that is just utilizing every molecule of material on this earth to build a new human race. If god gave us lemons, why would he be mad that we made lemonade?
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