response paper 1

Megan Barton

Response paper 1

            This reading was written in smart people speak. It’s the kind of stuff that you can read the words, but they go in one ear and out the other without leaving behind any semblance of understanding in their wake, like poetry. You almost have to decipher it line by line and one dictionary page at a time. Of what little I understand in the reading, I choose to discuss the power of machine over man.

            The writing tells of the subtle enslavement of man to machine. The author gives ample support for this claim which is rather intriguing. He discusses how electronics are designed with an emphasis on user- friendliness rather than functionality and aesthetics. That in the world today, according to the majority, electronics should be understood, not interpreted and they should not confuse or disappoint. In other words, electronics are designed so that they are so easy to use that people don’t have to think in order to figure them out. In this way, we are putting our lives in the hands of the electronics we use. We are slowly being conditioned to all think the same way or better yet, not think, but conform. The example given in the writing is the camera. When an individual is trying to take a photograph, a light will blink when there is a chance of ruining the image. This feature is limiting that individual in that it is not only limiting the creativity of that person, but it is also depriving them of valuable knowledge. If the feature wasn’t there to warn a person of the potential of a spoiled image, that person would have taken the photograph, seen that it wasn’t up to par, wonder why the photograph didn’t turn out, find the answer to that question and then modify the situation to correct the problem. That person would have used problem-solving skills and research skills to learn about the mechanics of a camera in order to take better photographs. The blinking light takes all the thought out of the situation, the light blinks, you move on; oh well, on to the next photograph.

            Another point to note is that because of electronics, “we readily cease to ‘see’ the world we live in, and become anesthetized to its distinctive features.” How often do you see people on smart phones, laptops, and I pods? In today’s world families don’t communicate face to face, even if they are under the same roof in a 3 bedroom house. In a commercial I saw on TV the other day, a woman is video chatting on the computer with her daughter. She is bragging about all the deals she got on clothing for the family and holds up some clothes and shoes she bought for her daughter with the money she saved from all the good deals. Suddenly the daughter leaves the screen and then reappears in the room beside her mother thanking her for the clothes. It’s ridiculous that they are in the same house but they are too lazy to go from one room to another to have that exchange in person. I have an experience worse even than that. Sitting in the floor in the living room at my mother’s house I get a text message from my brother. I look over, in disbelief I may add, at him sitting on the couch a mere 3 feet away from me! I mean really?? Are you so lazy, that you couldn’t find the energy to open your mouth and speak, but you could move your fingers and type a message? He’d rather use his phone to communicate than have an audible conversation with another living being. In restaurants, people get together to go out to a nice meal and instead of speaking and spending time with each other, they, especially the younger people,  sit there and text, or face book, or play one of the millions of apps on their smart phones or I pods. Just today I went out to Buffalo Wild Wings with my 15 yr old sister and two kids from work, both girls, ages 12 and 13, along with their mothers. The two mothers and I spent the time talking with each other while the 3 girls all sat there on their various electronic gadgets. All of these things illustrate the point. We are using electronics so much that we don’t see the world anymore. We see that screen. We walk down the street but we don’t notice the people we pass or the way the clouds look in the sky or the wonderful way the sun hits that puddle of water or the beauty of the shadows cast by the chair on the patio at that diner because our attention is fixed on that screen in our hands as we text or play games or watch ridiculous viral videos of people doing stupid things. Now in fine art classes, perhaps for the first time, we have to be taught how to see the world, how to appreciate its beauty and wonder.

            Electronics aren’t just a part of our lives; they actually help shape our lives. They help determine the type of job we get, the places we go, the things we see, and the people we meet. We can’t work from home if we don’t have a laptop, we can’t attend the meeting in the online chat room while on a bus without a smart phone, we can’t go a couple states away without a vehicle, we can’t know the most current events without a television or radio or the internet and we can’t meet people in Egypt from the comfort of our own home without some sort of smart device. We have become entirely too dependent on electronics. I wonder how many people retain their basic math skills when ever electronic device has a calculator on it. Do cashiers ever have to do the math to determine the correct amount of change to give? Do people ever have to do the math to determine the appropriate tip to leave a server after a meal? Most people don’t bother figuring out simple multiplication when they can reach in their pocket and pull out a devise with a calculator to do the thinking for them. How many phone numbers do you know? I know that I can say I only know a handful of the top of my head. I used to know all the phone numbers for all of my friends and family and the local pizza hut! Now I have my phone. All the numbers I need are programmed in the phone under the names of the people they belong too. I don’t have to know the number to call them, I don’t even see the number when I call; I see the name on the display. If I were to lose my phone I would lose contact with almost all of the over 200 people I have saved in there.

Having said all that, it is conceivable to think that man is becoming enslaved, so to speak, by machines. When you depend on something or someone for so much in your life, you become a slave to their will. They or it have or has power over you. We are giving this power over us to electronics. If electronics were to somehow become intelligent creatures with their own will, we would be slaves to them because we are losing the ability to think for ourselves.