So how do we do it? Just how are we supposed to reform this evil paradigm that has taken hold of us? I mean from the way Albert Borgmann talked, the paradigm is already so entrenched that it has even become almost totally inconspicuous. Devices now overrun our world and smother those activities which formerly proffered us an important center and enlightenment, opportunities to interact with others and the world around us in a multitude of enriching ways. Our consumerism and seeking after commodities have left our ends in life stripped of any sort of substantive value and wealth. We now strive after a skeletal form of what was once considered to be joy and happiness. Apparently, the promise of technology has not been realized to the degree to which we thought it would be. Throughout his treatise, Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life, Albert Borgmann has painted such a picture of the present predicament of modern technology. His arguments and reasoning have been very persuasive and eloquent. The verbiage and phraseology he utilized to diagram his examination of the character of modern technology and contemporary life is compelling and works to engender alarm and fear in the reader. And, in light of his analysis, this alarm and fear is most undeniably warranted. Seriously, after reading the above description, one would have to be totally apathetic in order to not realize that we have some societal problems with which we must deal.
Although the extent of the disaster which Borgmann sees can be debated, the premises of his arguments remain intact and apparent to anyone willing to genuinely consider the present state of our culture and society. Yes, our culture is increasingly concerned with commodity. Yes, the development of modern technology has led to an overabundance of cryptic devices, machines impenetrable to the ordinary user. Yes, the promise of technology is certainly not what its founders had envisioned. We now live in a world where superficiality of interactions and relationships is the norm and where full-body experiences have been streamlined into hollow, enrichment-lacking proxies. And from the correlates that Borgmann draws, it’s not very difficult to see how the development of modern technology and its devices have worked to exacerbate these problems. We are now, arguably more than ever before, farther from the healthy experience and centering illumination of which Borgmann writes. Borgmann’s solution to these dilemmas lies within the realm of reclaiming focal practices/things. In regards to reforming technology, Borgmann argues that we must return to focal practices and objects because “[t]hey provide a contrast against which the experience of specifically technological liberty and prosperity remains alive and appreciated” (page 247). In other words, “the context of technology…is restored to the dignity of its original promise through the focal concerns at its center” (page 248).
In my estimation, Borgmann’s solution to the paradigmatic problem of technology is reasonable and beneficial. Nonetheless, I believe that we must also stress the importance of our own will and desire to return to focal things and practices. Throughout his work, Borgmann focuses on a need to return to focal things and practices. He, however, does not emphasize enough the importance of the reformation of our will and personal character which is also concomitant to this reformation of technology. The inconspicuous tenor of the device paradigm is so interwoven into our societal interactions and our daily lifestyles that we have adapted our minds and ways of coping at a foundational level. We now yearn for attenuated experiences and loathe anything enriching which even slightly taxes us. In order to reform technology, we must first inculcate a renewed love for focal things not devices, for engagement not disengagement, and for the enrichment of experience not commodity. The change must first occur within. After we change the ways in which we see our world and view experience, I believe the technological revolution will soon follow. The transformation of our minds is absolutely necessary if we ever wish to reform technology.
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