Journal 5

Throughout the next reading, the idea of media and information is examined. Technology definitely affects our information and how we process it. With the help of technology, we have so many more different opportunities to obtain information. Yet, this also means it is harder to get away from the constant flow of information. Technology has affected us so much that it would be very difficult to go back to anything different. Picard recognizes the radio and its affect on society. He states that it ruins one's ability to enjoy silence. It is very hard these days to experience absolute silence, nearly impossible. He also states that with the radio, you have no presence, but only signs, therefore we don't experience reality, but merely signs that are disconnected from reality.
Another technology often taken for granted is writing or books; we often forget this as being a form of technology just because it is not an ipod or computer. Plato states that writing is inferior to live dialogue. When reading something from a book, you only have one perspective, whereas if you are having a conversation with the author, you have two different perspectives and can ask what the author meant. With writing, there is only one voice present, unlike in live dialogue where you can bounce ideas off one another and ask questions with answers. Being live gives a person that experience of presence and unpredictability, whereas, a book is always predictable and always the same.