Technology, Consumerism & Terrorism
I figured out my topic for that poli sci class.
to contextualize the topic a [very] brief commentary about Chomsky's 5 Filters - the last one is Communism as a justification for defense budget etc.. (yes its dated a tad) The professor made comments that although terrorism seems to have replaced communism in this sense, terrorism hasnt been the drive behind technological innovation as the cold war's fight against communism was. (at least my interpretation of his lecture)
I disagree - and will make this the basis of my paper. Terrorism and its justification for the development of security technologies (from face recognition software in airports, massive amounts of cameras placed throughout cities such as Longon, and the willingness of the american citizen to give up freedoms for the sake of freedom - oxymoron i know - in the form of incredibly advanced identification cards being developed etc. -there is alot of this seen in Wired magazine etc.)
Many people have stated that "it [the technological advancement] is not on the same scale as the cold war"... Well, i see this as part of my industrialized-turn-technocized society theory and why it is important to look at our society under its new technocized light rather then the aging idea of the industrialized.
The importance, and essentially the impact of the technology currently being developed may not be as "important" in terms of political strength and size[equated to physical destructive value i suppose] but it is incredibly important to understand how it redefines concepts of freedom. And personally, that can be equally as destructive [from physical destruction to more of a mental or intellectual form of destruction...control] as a bomb.
It is dangerous to think that the 'war against terrorism' hasnt pushed the technological envelope towards more subtle and even more dangerous things.
I figured out my topic for that poli sci class.
to contextualize the topic a [very] brief commentary about Chomsky's 5 Filters - the last one is Communism as a justification for defense budget etc.. (yes its dated a tad) The professor made comments that although terrorism seems to have replaced communism in this sense, terrorism hasnt been the drive behind technological innovation as the cold war's fight against communism was. (at least my interpretation of his lecture)
I disagree - and will make this the basis of my paper. Terrorism and its justification for the development of security technologies (from face recognition software in airports, massive amounts of cameras placed throughout cities such as Longon, and the willingness of the american citizen to give up freedoms for the sake of freedom - oxymoron i know - in the form of incredibly advanced identification cards being developed etc. -there is alot of this seen in Wired magazine etc.)
Many people have stated that "it [the technological advancement] is not on the same scale as the cold war"... Well, i see this as part of my industrialized-turn-technocized society theory and why it is important to look at our society under its new technocized light rather then the aging idea of the industrialized.
The importance, and essentially the impact of the technology currently being developed may not be as "important" in terms of political strength and size[equated to physical destructive value i suppose] but it is incredibly important to understand how it redefines concepts of freedom. And personally, that can be equally as destructive [from physical destruction to more of a mental or intellectual form of destruction...control] as a bomb.
It is dangerous to think that the 'war against terrorism' hasnt pushed the technological envelope towards more subtle and even more dangerous things.
posted by Kelly at
13:02
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home