Questioning Our Computer Competence
24/05/11 23:03 Filed in: Human Nature
Douglas Rushkoff, on Think out Loud today, defended his view that we need to program or be programmed when it comes to computer technology. He had lots of interesting things to say about agency. In particular, he wanted to point out that, the less we know about the technology we use, the more likely we are to be programmed by it -- that is, that it will shape the way we make decisions or even think about what kind of decisions we can make without our knowing.
Rushkoff is not defending some luddite thesis here. He's making a clear point that we should carefully consider. He gave the example of a person using facebook. The person thinks that she is a customer of facebook, and the facebook is there to serve her interests. In fact, however, the person does not pay facebook. Advertisers and companies pay facebook so that they can market to the person using facebook. Thus, if we don't really understand what facebook is -- a means for marketers to reach potential consumers -- then we will more easily be tricked into making decisions we might have more control over under false pretenses.
We should not, also, dismiss this too easily as a case of false consciousness. We can have false beliefs about different things we use. Often, marketers work by causing us to believe false things about the products they market. We may even see through the marketing ploy -- do we really believe that drinking a certain beer will make us favorable to the hot members of the sex to which we are attracted? Yet, marketing and advertising work, and it often works because we are not careful about what we understand about the product.
Rushkoff is extending this idea to computers, computer technology, and new media. I think rightly so. Our lives are often constrained in ways we don't even bother to recogize. Take, for instance, the now famous debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Because of the way that Kennedy knew how to use the media for presentation, he easily was seen to have won the debate. The more the technology changes so fast that we cannot keep up with it, the more likely we are to fall to the influence of those who know how to use it. Another more practical example is birth: how does living in a technological society make us think about pregnant bodies? About birth?
So, the warning is simple: beware how you use technology? Ask questions to open up moments of agency? Here, we are our best defenders: asking questions and teaching our children to ask questions. Without questions, we might as well live in a brave new world.
Rushkoff is not defending some luddite thesis here. He's making a clear point that we should carefully consider. He gave the example of a person using facebook. The person thinks that she is a customer of facebook, and the facebook is there to serve her interests. In fact, however, the person does not pay facebook. Advertisers and companies pay facebook so that they can market to the person using facebook. Thus, if we don't really understand what facebook is -- a means for marketers to reach potential consumers -- then we will more easily be tricked into making decisions we might have more control over under false pretenses.
We should not, also, dismiss this too easily as a case of false consciousness. We can have false beliefs about different things we use. Often, marketers work by causing us to believe false things about the products they market. We may even see through the marketing ploy -- do we really believe that drinking a certain beer will make us favorable to the hot members of the sex to which we are attracted? Yet, marketing and advertising work, and it often works because we are not careful about what we understand about the product.
Rushkoff is extending this idea to computers, computer technology, and new media. I think rightly so. Our lives are often constrained in ways we don't even bother to recogize. Take, for instance, the now famous debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Because of the way that Kennedy knew how to use the media for presentation, he easily was seen to have won the debate. The more the technology changes so fast that we cannot keep up with it, the more likely we are to fall to the influence of those who know how to use it. Another more practical example is birth: how does living in a technological society make us think about pregnant bodies? About birth?
So, the warning is simple: beware how you use technology? Ask questions to open up moments of agency? Here, we are our best defenders: asking questions and teaching our children to ask questions. Without questions, we might as well live in a brave new world.
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