I just finished chapter four of The Shallows, and I noticed a point Nicholas Carr made that stood out to me. Carr explains that there are four different categories of technology, and that they are all "an expression of human will" (44). The first three categories that were introduced all had a common thread, which is that they all supposedly enhance our senses and needs. Examples Carr used included the fighter jet, the microscope, and the reservoir. They all improve our strength, sensitivity, or essentially anything that we already possess. This also includes fulfilling what we want or need. What Carr focused on and kept using throughout the chapter was the idea of the fourth category, which are intellectual technologies.
The term of "intellectual technologies" was borrowed from a social anthropologist named Jack Goody and a sociologist named Daniel Bell. These are supposedly "tools we use to extend or support our mental powers-to find and classify information, to formulate and articulate ideas, to share know-how and knowledge, to take measurements and perform calculations, to expand the capacity of our memory" (44). Some symbols of this included the typewriter, the Internet, and the library. The two representations of intellectual technologies that were carried on through the chapter were the map and clock. However, so many things could belong to the fourth category. The microscope, which was mentioned into the second category, helps to classify information, make measurements, and expand the capacity of our memory. The reservoir and fighter jet could also be considered an intellectual technology for supporting our mental powers. This is due to the fact that our senses, strengths, and needs all derive from our minds, which would make the fourth category related to all the others. So should intellectual technologies be considered a category? Or is there another category that should be brought up and introduced?
Jaden Cleto
All technologies can affect how we interact with the world around us, but intellectual technologies have the greatest influence over how we think and form ideas. The power of intellectual technologies reach beyond its intended use and cause us view the world from a different perspective. For example, the clock divided time into measurable segments which not only allowed people to check the time, but it also changed how we planned out the day and organized activities. However, I think that the microscope could be considered an intellectual technology because it opened up a world of microscopic organisms that people never knew existed, altering their perception of the world. Nevertheless, the fighter jet and reservoir are tools that haven't had a tremendous impact on our way of thinking and should not be considered an intellectual technology. Ultimately, I believe that creating a category for intellectual technologies is acceptable.
ReplyDeleteIntellectual technologies are very important. These inventions further the ideas of science and mathematics and make everything else we use possible. From number-crunching computers to the GPS, intellectual technologies are what help our society function the way it does, and the creation of intellectual technologies allows for the furtherment of our society into one that is more efficient than it was before.
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