Brave New World

"What afflicted the people in Brave New World was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking." The distinction Postman is attempting to make here is that entertainment in and of itself is not the main issue but rather that rational information relayed in the form of entertainment has serious ramifications on our society. This is significantly important because if people do not realize this in our society today, rational, contextual information will greatly decrease, as it already has been doing for quite some time. Not only will people lose the ability to retain continuity in thoughts, but they will also be ignorant of the fact that this calamity is even occuring or why it is occuring. Postman also wants people to understand that entertainment is not all bad, but when it is used as a means to convey "serious" information it can be extremely dangerous.

It's True, You Really Can't Do Philosophy With Smoke Signals

Friday’s communication experiment was a day to remember.  I actually started out the day feeling kind of nervous to be honest.  I was worried that my teachers would call on me in class and consequently, it would be rather difficult to answer their query.  This proved to be very true as the day progressed.  When others, not necessarily teachers, asked me questions or commented on something to me it was nearly impossible to relay my thoughts and feelings/opinions.  On the contrary, illustrating simple commands was relatively simple. When looking back on this aspect of the experience, I was able to relate it to a concept from Postman’s book. In chapter one he emphasizes the fact that “you can’t do philosophy with smoke signals.”  Experiencing this on Friday cemented this idea into my mind.  Trying to illustrate complex concepts with the simple forms of communications we were allowed was nearly impossible, just like Postman said with his smoke signal analogy. The simple forms of expression took away from the message.  Overall, I believe Friday’s experiment was a success, specifically with helping me to understand Postman’s premise by experiencing it rather than just reading it. 

Amusing Yourself to Death? Pshh, Cloning Will Keep You Alive Forever

Neil Postman is very constant in his thoughts and ideas as can be seen when comparing chapter 1 of his book and his lecture at Calvin College. Toward the end of his lecture, Postman quotes another man who says that one day we will be talking more with machines than with humans and that talking with machines will become a very natural and comfortable thing for us. This idea also surfaces on page 11 of Postman's book when he writes of how the idea of moment to moment, a product of the clock, "is man conversing with himself about and through a piece of machinery he created." The clock is no doubt a piece of machinery that is very familiar to man. We check the clock countless times every day and profess the idea of living "moment to moment". Postman is saying that the every day relationship between this idea of moment to moment and man, is nothing more than man conversing with machinery, in this case, the clock. He shows how comfortably talking to machinery has been a part of our society for quite some time and he reinforces that idea in his lecture when he says that this sort of trend in human-machine relationships will continue to rise. Another idea Postman talks of in his lecture is the new technology of cloning and "spare parts." He explains how one man proposed that at birth, a clone of that person should be made so that the person can have spare body parts at their disposable throughout life. This idea, the man suggests, would prolong one's life and therefore work against time. Postman talks of a related idea on page 14 of his book. He writes of how the invention of eyeglasses "suggested the idea that human beings need not accept as final either the endowments of nature or the ravages of time." With these two ideas Postman shows his belief that new medical technologies are leading people to believe and accept as fact that their bodies are improvable and maybe even immortal. On a broader scope, Postman is showing that technology in general is altering the way people view the world and truth and furthermore what truths they accept as true, false, or negotiable. Neil Postman holds firm to his ideas and beliefs as can be seen when comparing his book and his lecture.