Winners and Losers in Technology
If technology creates "winners and losers," as Postman asserts, who are the winners and the losers with computer technology? (What is lost and what is won?)
Argue for who (or what) in our society gains the biggest advantages and who (or what) takes the biggest loss from computer technology.
There are winners and losers with computer technology. The winners tend to be those that already have wielded the most power. They are in a position to use their power to expand their power through technological advancements. Financial institutions, large manufacturing companies, the airlines, media networks and even the state and federal government are able to harness the abilities of the computer to compile information and centralize their records to learn about the general public and use it to their advantage. Those with the knowledge have the power and the big companies and governments have the ability to exploit that knowledge and power making them the big winners in the computer age.
The losers in the age of computers are those individuals and small businesses that are under the thumb and control of the larger companies. The larger companies with the power to dictate what is on television and how public opinion is formed make the individual less significant which makes the individual and small businesses the losers in the deal. Technology does come with a price and the losers may not even realize that they are on the losing end as they are told by the winners that they are enjoying a piece of the technological pie and access to a new level of information that they’ve never experienced before. While it may be true that the losers have a new level of information at their fingertips, their larger competitors are exponentially more equipped, making the information they have even more useful to them.
It should be considered that a new technology can do new things for people and business but it can also undo things that are more harmful to the losers. For
Argue for who (or what) in our society gains the biggest advantages and who (or what) takes the biggest loss from computer technology.
There are winners and losers with computer technology. The winners tend to be those that already have wielded the most power. They are in a position to use their power to expand their power through technological advancements. Financial institutions, large manufacturing companies, the airlines, media networks and even the state and federal government are able to harness the abilities of the computer to compile information and centralize their records to learn about the general public and use it to their advantage. Those with the knowledge have the power and the big companies and governments have the ability to exploit that knowledge and power making them the big winners in the computer age.
The losers in the age of computers are those individuals and small businesses that are under the thumb and control of the larger companies. The larger companies with the power to dictate what is on television and how public opinion is formed make the individual less significant which makes the individual and small businesses the losers in the deal. Technology does come with a price and the losers may not even realize that they are on the losing end as they are told by the winners that they are enjoying a piece of the technological pie and access to a new level of information that they’ve never experienced before. While it may be true that the losers have a new level of information at their fingertips, their larger competitors are exponentially more equipped, making the information they have even more useful to them.
It should be considered that a new technology can do new things for people and business but it can also undo things that are more harmful to the losers. For