When your lifeline is cut off—
That’s very dramatic. As I write this, my computer works but the cable and Internet are down. We are experiencing real withdrawal symptoms (as in frenetic but futile attempts to watch TV and check email), and yet there is a sense of relief that I am not the prisoner of the screen. It seems that all our lives are funneled through screens anymore, and I don’t mean the type that keeps flies out of the house. Flat screens, high-definition screens, screens in church (ostensibly used for PowerPoint projection but also used to “blow up” the pastor, some of which, especially in a Baptist church, don’t need to look any bigger.)
In fact, I warn my students that audiences have been trained to pay more attention to the screen than the speaker, not purposefully, just as an unintended consequence. If that is true, the speaker has to either use the screen minimally, or make sure the screen is not more interesting than he/she or the message, or turn all technology off completely and speak the way the ancients did, with an emphasis on words, not images, on humanity, not machine.
Since our technological lifeline has been cut, I am going to go for a walk and then read a book; at least the electricity (and thus the air conditioner—it’s finally gotten hot in North Georgia) are still working fine. If my Internet is out, I have an excuse not to answer student email. Ironically, the book I’ll be reading is The World is Flat. I’m half way through it (an expanded edition that seems very long), and like most books it belabors a point. Most books today seem to be article length in terms of ideas but tome-length in terms of pages.
I don’t think the world is really flat. That seems to say there is an absence of hierarchy, which is absurd. Hierarchy is alive and well. The world is interconnected and the developing world is giving us a run for our money. From a human being standpoint, I’m OK with that. From an American standpoint, not so much, but I don’t think we can hold on to the economic hegemony the way we have. Why shouldn’t an Indian drive a car and live in decent housing? We’ve been looking down our noses at them for years, implying they were too stupid or backward to live at a higher standard. They benefited from the infrastructure improvements of the tech bubble, just as we did, and from their own work ethic, as we used to.
This is not to say the book is invalid. It's very interesting, but I could use an abridged edition.
The cable company is going to call us when the cable is on. That’s really kind of funny, when you think about it.
In fact, I warn my students that audiences have been trained to pay more attention to the screen than the speaker, not purposefully, just as an unintended consequence. If that is true, the speaker has to either use the screen minimally, or make sure the screen is not more interesting than he/she or the message, or turn all technology off completely and speak the way the ancients did, with an emphasis on words, not images, on humanity, not machine.
Since our technological lifeline has been cut, I am going to go for a walk and then read a book; at least the electricity (and thus the air conditioner—it’s finally gotten hot in North Georgia) are still working fine. If my Internet is out, I have an excuse not to answer student email. Ironically, the book I’ll be reading is The World is Flat. I’m half way through it (an expanded edition that seems very long), and like most books it belabors a point. Most books today seem to be article length in terms of ideas but tome-length in terms of pages.
I don’t think the world is really flat. That seems to say there is an absence of hierarchy, which is absurd. Hierarchy is alive and well. The world is interconnected and the developing world is giving us a run for our money. From a human being standpoint, I’m OK with that. From an American standpoint, not so much, but I don’t think we can hold on to the economic hegemony the way we have. Why shouldn’t an Indian drive a car and live in decent housing? We’ve been looking down our noses at them for years, implying they were too stupid or backward to live at a higher standard. They benefited from the infrastructure improvements of the tech bubble, just as we did, and from their own work ethic, as we used to.
This is not to say the book is invalid. It's very interesting, but I could use an abridged edition.
The cable company is going to call us when the cable is on. That’s really kind of funny, when you think about it.
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