Narratives of Technology
This book documents and investigates the stories we have told and continue to tell about technology—now the dominant feature of our civilization—in fiction, non-fiction, film, and advertising. It answers important questions about the meanings people
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Narratives of Technology
J.M. van der Laan
Narratives of Technology
J.M. van der Laan Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Illinois State University Normal, Illinois, USA
ISBN 978-1-137-44030-3 ISBN 978-1-137-43706-8 DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-43706-8
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016944117 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York
NDY In Gratitude
PREFACE
Technology is a part of everything we do today, more than at any other time in human history. In one century alone, we embraced Frederick Taylor’s notion of “scientific management,” fell in love with the automobile, radio, television, and microwave, became devoted to techniques for teaching, marketing, and self-help, and were captivated by personal computing devices and the Internet. Even the humanities, once the bastion of traditional learning and scholarship, are now excited about the integration of new technologies and mining digitized texts for data. We have long been fascinated and delighted by, but also conflicted and worried about technology. This study documents and analyzes the competing, still evolving narratives about technology and its place in our lives. Even though we are surrounded by and immersed in it, technology tends to escape our notice and so remains poorly understood. Because technology is such an important feature of our existence, we need to examine it, our conceptions of it, and our relation to it with greater discernment. Although the contents of the narratives seem self-evident, they are not. They require clarification and interpretation. This book illumines the hopes and fears we express in our narratives about technology, the various meanings we ascribe to it, and the new forms of a mythology or demythology those narratives represe
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