Neil Postman (1985), Amusing
ourselves to death, Penguin books, New York, pp.184
Neil Postman’s classic manifesto
on the influence of television on popular culture, written in the 1980s, speaks
directly to our world today that is inundated with information. What is
fascinating about this work is the uncanny precision with which the author imagines
the future standing on the cusp of the internet revolution. The basic premise
of his argument is that there are two alternatives possible for the us, as the
next waves of technology wash us over- Orwellian dystopia or Huxleyan trivial
future.
In his most famous book 1984, George Orwell vividly anticipated
a new captive culture that was subjected to constant surveillance and control,
resulting in a world imprisoned in externally-manifested oppression. On the
other hand, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New
World imagined a new generation with an infinite appetite for distraction which
was eventually reduced to passivity and egoism. As we reflect on the seven
waves of digital revolution that has given us machine learning and
internet-of-things (where even ordinary objects are imbued with a semblance of
‘intelligence’), we seem to be increasingly staring at a Huxleyan universe.
The great transformation
The book is divided into two
parts. In the first section, Postman discusses the characteristics of the
enormous revolution through which we are living. In the second part, the author
examines various spheres of life that has metamorphosed, thanks to new media. Using
an American centric vantage point, Postman analyzes the totalitarian manner in
which television progressively transformed the way we understand and interpret
information. The first two chapters give a sketch of how the new medium created
a new metaphor (way of using language) and epistemology (way of knowing). In a
trenchant comparison, he contrasts what visual medium has creatively destroyed
that the typographic world of the printing press had given us earlier. His
analysis prods us to think about how the internet has disrupted a world that
was governed by visual media.
To begin with, the speed,
quantity and quality of information has changed and so has the need for
relevance, positionality and coherence. It seems that standard setting by
experts and counsel from experience is increasingly irrelevant as the entire
world is reduced to millions of data points and machines can decipher patterns
that we cannot. Furthermore, democratization of the digital universe has
ensured that we are not required to have eligibility of entry or membership or
even purpose when we inhabit the internet world. The need for well-thought out
exposition seems to be over and with it an appetite for public discourse.
Consequently, appreciation of silence, ability for reasoned arguments and
adherence to self-imposed restraint are becoming rare qualities. The
fragmentation of information with no attention to sequencing, meaning, value
and scale leads to the generation of an immense amount of information packs
that momentarily invade our lives incoherently and chaotically. As a result, we
become the product and consumers of the information age.
There are several ways to get
introduced to the theme of how digital technology affects various facets of our
life. It is important and urgent that we educate ourselves through the
well-thought of arguments of others who know more than we do and have patiently
examined these questions vigorously. Jaron Lanier’s (the father of virtual
technology) You are not a Gadget is
an excellent introduction to the philosophy of what it means to be
‘encapsulated’. Oxford Professor Victor Mayor-Schรถnberger’s (co-authored with
Kenneth Cukier) Big Data gives a
comprehensive description of the specific challenges and actionable points that
we can take as we step into new realities. The books and articles of Eric
Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee present a mainstream perspective that excitedly
anticipates the future in a digitally immersed world. Garry Kasparov’s
part-memoir Deep Thinking evaluates
how humans can thrive in an age of artificial intelligence. But a great primer
is still Postman’s manifesto that helps us to understand when technology
becomes a medium of culture and how it transforms our minds. In a style that is
crisp with arguments that are cogent, Postman appeals to our reason and
rationality and delivers his fare with wit and wisdom. An absolutely delightful
and important book for our times!
