A Brief Scrutiny of Technoculture: Glance to Cultural Studies
A brief scrutiny of “Technoculture”: glance to cultural studies. By. Satyavrat Nirala
“A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it. Our own culture is like water for the fish. It sustains us. We live and breathe through it.” Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore
I am astounded. I unraveled the interview “What can cultural study do?” By Steven Connor and chronicled a solitary terrain called “Technoculture.” Technology is unceasingly cogitated to be the crux causation of economic and social change in the world. Some of technological innovation has been the catalyst for revolutionary changes in the culture of its time. As we know, the invention of the wheel in ancient civilization transformed transportation and travel, the invention of currency transformed trade and spread capital around the world, the invention of printing press transformed learning, media, communication and knowledge dissemination all over the world. Additionally, consider the far-reaching impacts of electricity, the steam engine, the telephone, airplanes, nuclear power, genetics etc. on the cultures of the world. Jacques Ellul, enquired in his writing “Is there a Technical Culture?’ and concluded that ‘a technical culture is impossible. He argued that ‘technique is universal, but culture cannot be, for human beings are not universal. We all have a place, a race, a formation and a specific time.’
The idea of technology is autonomous is central to modernist thought. Technological determination presumes a linear, causal connection between advancements in technology and social progress. Technology itself is presumed neutral and free from all cultural and ideological contamination. There is a relationship between society and technology which seems to control our day to day life. "Science, Technology and Society Studies" (STSS), first emerged in the 1960s and developed a variety of
“A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it. Our own culture is like water for the fish. It sustains us. We live and breathe through it.” Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore
I am astounded. I unraveled the interview “What can cultural study do?” By Steven Connor and chronicled a solitary terrain called “Technoculture.” Technology is unceasingly cogitated to be the crux causation of economic and social change in the world. Some of technological innovation has been the catalyst for revolutionary changes in the culture of its time. As we know, the invention of the wheel in ancient civilization transformed transportation and travel, the invention of currency transformed trade and spread capital around the world, the invention of printing press transformed learning, media, communication and knowledge dissemination all over the world. Additionally, consider the far-reaching impacts of electricity, the steam engine, the telephone, airplanes, nuclear power, genetics etc. on the cultures of the world. Jacques Ellul, enquired in his writing “Is there a Technical Culture?’ and concluded that ‘a technical culture is impossible. He argued that ‘technique is universal, but culture cannot be, for human beings are not universal. We all have a place, a race, a formation and a specific time.’
The idea of technology is autonomous is central to modernist thought. Technological determination presumes a linear, causal connection between advancements in technology and social progress. Technology itself is presumed neutral and free from all cultural and ideological contamination. There is a relationship between society and technology which seems to control our day to day life. "Science, Technology and Society Studies" (STSS), first emerged in the 1960s and developed a variety of
Bibliography: Connor, Steven, “Interrogating Cultural Studies: Interviews in Cultural Theory, Practice and Politics.” ed. Paul Bowman (London: Pluto Press, 2003). Hartley, John “A short History of cultural study.” 2003 Jacques Ellul, The Technological Bluff,1990. Michael, Menser & Stanley Aronowitz, “Techno-Science and Cyber-Culture.” (1996) Ziauddin Sardar and Borin Van Loon,“Introducing cultural studies.” 1999. .