1 Lecture 3: Utopia/Dystopia Professor Victoria Meng Does Technology Determine Culture?

1

Lecture 3:Lecture 3:Utopia/DystopiaUtopia/Dystopia

Professor Victoria Meng

Does Technology Determine Culture?Does Technology Determine Culture?

Previously…Previously…

Media Continuity

• All “old” media was once “new.”

• All media are human extensions.

Previously…Previously…

Key Terms

• Content• Form• Message• Medium

4

Lesson 3: Imag(in)ing New MediaLesson 3: Imag(in)ing New Media

Lecture 3: Utopia/Dystopia:Lecture 3: Utopia/Dystopia:Does Technology Determine Culture?Does Technology Determine Culture?

Thomas MoreThomas More(1478-1535)(1478-1535)

6

UtopiaUtopia(published 1516)(published 1516)

7

8

Utopia |yoōˈtōpēə| (also utopia)nounAn imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. The word was first used in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More. The opposite of dystopia .ORIGIN based on Greek ou ‘not’ + topos ‘place.’

9

Dystopia |disˈtōpēə|nounAn imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. The opposite of UtopiaORIGIN late 18th cent.: from dys- [bad] + Utopia.

10

Some Popular Dystopian WorksSome Popular Dystopian Works

A Brave New World1984Fahrenheit 451The Terminator seriesThe Matrix seriesMinority ReportI, RobotV for VendettaWatchmenSamurai Jack…

Dystopian StoriesDystopian Stories

11

• Dystopias are entertaining!

12


• Dystopias are cinematic!


13


• Dystopias are cinematic!

• Dystopias often use futuristic technologies as an allegory or displacement of social problems.


Blade Runner (1982)Blade Runner (1982)

14


15

Blade Runner uses its dystopic setting to make its storyline more engaging; it uses imaginary technologies to exaggerate the nature and effects of the characters’ conflicts.

16


Blade Runner exploits the cinematicpotentials of its dystopian setting.

17


Dilemma: If machines are too human, should we change our laws and our culture to accommodate their “human” rights?

18


Blade Runner (and other dystopias) allegorize and displace existing social problems.

19


Allegory 1: New technologies have both improved and complicated our lives.

20


Allegory 1: New technologies have both improved and complicated our lives. Allegory 2: Our industrialized and capitalistic society has alienated us from many other people.

21

• Technology is a part of history.

Raymond Williams, “The Raymond Williams, “The Technology and the Society”Technology and the Society”

22

• Technology is a part of history.• Technologies are both causes and

effects.


23

• Technology is a part of history.• Technologies are both causes and

effects.• Technology does not emerge from a

vacuum. It is informed by economic, political, technological and cultural factors.


Wrapping Up the LectureWrapping Up the Lecture

24

• Debunk technological determinism• Technology is not a bad genie; it is not

separable from society.• Ted Friedman, “Tweeting the Dialectic of

Technological Determinism.”• Ray Bradbury, “There Will Come Soft

Rains.”

End of Lecture 3End of Lecture 3

Next Lecture: Extended Abilities:

Where is the body/world boundary?25

1 Lecture 3: Utopia/Dystopia Professor Victoria Meng Does Technology Determine Culture?

Documents

Transcript of 1 Lecture 3: Utopia/Dystopia Professor Victoria Meng Does Technology Determine Culture?