Monday, January 28, 2008

Technology vs. Reality

In his book Holding on to Reality, Borgmann claims that his main goal is to find a balance between technology and reality. However, I am not sure such a balance exists. Isn’t it one of technology’s purposes to create a place with few inhibitions and an incredible scope – the exact opposite of reality?

For example, movies were first designed to entertain. They had no deep, philosophical messages to pass down from generation to generation. Filmmakers just wanted to experiment with moving pictures. The camera was just a new gadget with which to play. However, as technology improved so did the seriousness of the pictures. Instead of just entertaining their audiences, movies began to express and analyze reality. Nevertheless, the reality shown in the movies was mostly an exaggeration. Truly, how many people experience such events like those found in, for instance, Love Actually or Say Anything?

Honestly, I find it difficult to believe that any sort of balance between the influx of information technology and reality can be achieved however much one wishes it to happen.

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