Friday, January 25, 2008

Avoiding technological determinism

John Walters makes a nice distinction between strong and weak technological determinism:

"When someone like McLuhan or Ong describes what happened in the past to get us where we are now, they can appear to be engaging in a strong deterministic model because they don’t focus on the branches we could have followed but one the path we did follow.3 We need to make sure that when we read someone who explains that X lead to Y we recognize that this does not necessarily mean that they are arguing that X had to lead to Y (strong determinism), but that Y was one of the possible futures resulting from X and just happens to be part of the future we followed. Likewise, when providing accounts of technological development, we need to remember to not fall into the strong model fallacy, even when there really was only one possible future."

I'll have to see if this helps my students make sense of the technological determinism debate.

11 comments:

Sportet said...

Mcluhan? I've heard of that guy. Mara has nothing but bad things to say about him, mostly disgusting personal habits.

Why don't you come over to our blog and defend him?

http://rhetpoet.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

I'm terribly, terribly interested in Mcluhan, but I wonder what his usefulness is in today's new media studies. Therefore, Kevin, would you, David Letterman style, be willing to come up with the top ten reasons to study Mcluhan as a graduate student? When you've completed this task, would you post it to our (royal We) blog?

http://rhetpoet.blogspot.com/

Many thanks for your forthcoming zesty response. A fellow Mcluhanan.

Unknown said...

Oh, and Doc Mara had absolutely nothing to do with this series of posts.

Unknown said...

nothing at all.

policy said...

Kevin, Jennie and I agree with you. We think that you should write a McLuhan blog on our Rhetpoet blog to further enlighten us. By missing this opportunity to further our theoretical knowledge would be doing us a great disservice.

Jennie said...

Kevin, Paula and I agree with you. You should write more about McLuhan on our Rhetorics and Poetics class blog. It would be a very educational experience for us.

Doc Mara said...

This is the place to help out my poor, benighted students.

Doc Mara said...

I'm so ashamed...

oakleyses said...

nike free, ray ban sunglasses, oakley sunglasses, michael kors outlet online, michael kors outlet store, tory burch outlet online, coach outlet store online, longchamp handbags, michael kors outlet online sale, polo ralph lauren, michael kors handbags, louis vuitton, prada outlet, ray ban outlet, burberry outlet online, nike air max, coach purses, coach outlet, nike outlet, chanel handbags, true religion outlet, christian louboutin shoes, red bottom shoes, gucci handbags, coach outlet, louis vuitton outlet online, tiffany and co jewelry, michael kors outlet online, oakley vault, cheap oakley sunglasses, louis vuitton handbags, nike air max, prada handbags, true religion, louis vuitton outlet, polo ralph lauren outlet, longchamp outlet, louis vuitton outlet, tiffany jewelry, kate spade outlet, burberry outlet online, christian louboutin outlet, jordan shoes, christian louboutin, kate spade outlet online, longchamp outlet online, michael kors outlet

oakleyses said...

bottega veneta, ugg boots clearance, north face jackets, herve leger, wedding dresses, insanity workout, jimmy choo shoes, soccer jerseys, ugg outlet, mcm handbags, beats headphones, canada goose outlet, chi flat iron, ferragamo shoes, ghd, ugg, canada goose outlet, uggs outlet, asics shoes, giuseppe zanotti, nike trainers, longchamp, soccer shoes, vans outlet, p90x workout, valentino shoes, north face jackets, mac cosmetics, mont blanc pens, nike huarache, babyliss, abercrombie and fitch, replica watches, uggs on sale, celine handbags, new balance outlet, reebok shoes, canada goose outlet, nike roshe, marc jacobs outlet, ugg boots, hollister, ugg outlet, birkin bag, canada goose, lululemon outlet, ugg soldes, instyler ionic styler, nfl jerseys

oakleyses said...

iphone 6 case, timberland shoes, louis vuitton canada, nike air max, moncler outlet, toms outlet, hollister, air max, moncler, canada goose, pandora charms, pandora uk, hollister canada, oakley, louboutin, converse, ralph lauren, wedding dress, ray ban, swarovski jewelry, baseball bats, parajumpers outlet, pandora jewelry, canada goose, gucci, moncler, thomas sabo uk, ugg, montre femme, canada goose pas cher, vans, uggs canada, swarovski uk, juicy couture outlet, canada goose, lancel, converse shoes, hollister clothing, coach outlet, links of london uk, moncler outlet, replica watches, karen millen, moncler, supra shoes, moncler, juicy couture outlet, moncler