I think that this book would be a very interesting topic for classroom discussion. Kevin Kelly brings about a multitude of issues, theories, and thoughts about technology that are open to debate and deliberation. From the title alone, What Technology Wants, a teacher could construct a very interesting discussion focusing on such questions as, Can technology "want" in the same way that humans "want"? Is Kelly assuming that what humans want for technology is what technology wants for itself? If technology can "want" then how do their human creators influence the technologies? Students may have a hard time, initially, but with some selected passages from the book I think students would be able to answer these questions and more. Another really interesting and highly debatable issue that Kelly discusses is the inevitability of technology. In a classroom I would ask students if they were able to predict a technology before it came out, and if they were able to, does that prove its inevitability? Or should we look at this on a larger scale, of regions, cultures, etc.? The questions pertaining to this book so easily fit into a format of discussion about technology, which makes them extremely useful in a classroom and to the exploration of technologies existences and consequences.
As for the questions of the week I would like to respond to the following: Do you think technology shortens your attention span? As I noted in our discussion I would have to say that technology does shorten our attention span. I have witnessed this in myself. As I surf the web, watching videos, reading blogs or threads, I find that if I'm not amused within seconds I'm on to the next page. However, as others have noted, maybe this is not a bad thing. We are able to prioritize news, events, videos, like never before by using the web and by doing so we are able to get the information and amusement that we desire most in seconds. Maybe our attention span is shorter because we are evolving as media digesters and thus need less time to devour an equal if not greater amount of information.
Joe,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your suggestion that Kelly has created some fantastic discussion leads through his book "What Technology Wants." I have been very critical of this book in general, but I really would use the questions raised within a social studies discussion. I also agree that selected passages would be a great idea, as I would absolutely not assign this entire book to a high school class. It would be tough to fit in a long novel regarding technology in a World History class, but this novel does have many useful passages that can be pulled out.
I appreciate your answer to the question of attention span - I also think our attention span is shorter, but that this is not a bad thing. The idea of humans as better digesters of information is completely relevant to what is going on with technology and its evolution.
P.S. Like I said in discussion, yes our attention span is shorter, no we do not need to medicated half our kids because of it ;)
I agree with your stance that Kelly is projecting human's wants on technology. You pose some great questions for discussion in a classroom as well. It would be cool to see how many different technologies students can come up with and then see if any of them are realized. Of course, that would be very long (depending on how grand their ideas are) but it could be a very interesting experience.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your take on the attention span. I especially noticed this in the middle school setting. They wanted to focus on different things and I found that the more meaningful things I did, the more they got out of the lesson.
Great points overall!
I totally agree with your ideas on how to use this in the classroom. I like the idea of having our students take a step back and look at the big picture of the technology that is so ubiquitous for most of them.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most important things I've heard Kelly say is that our first problem to solve in making the technium "do the right thing" is knowing what WE want - our values, etc. He states:
"In a deep irony, the more technology advances, the less sure we are of who we are and what we stand for as a species and as individuals. So this discovery of what is most important about us is a huge challenge...We also have to become very smart and clever about how to embed subtle guidance in large systems. We know it can be done because of our children. And, we have to be willing to risk surrendering autonomy to the technium in order to reap the maximum freedom and benefits for ourselves. Invest, let go, benefit."
That's the tradeoff, I guess!
Great points Joe! I really liked how you delved into what you would do with a book like Kelly's and I definitely have to agree that I too would use it as the basis of a discussion. What's interesting about his book, is in the way in which he brings up philosophical ideas that are intricately woven into the fabric of technology. All of what we do is an extension of ourselves, including the use of technology, thus it's easy to see how all of the things we use are more than just mere electronics or tools. For students I think such a discussion would be difficult because it would bring up very abstract ideas that are not tangible, such as in the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". With that in mind, I would only introduce it in as a junior or senior social studies class.
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