AFFIRMATIVE - CRITIQUE OF TECHNOLOGY — ANSWERS 173

VARIOUS OTHER ANSWERS

THE HOPE IS THAT TECHNOLOGY WILL ALIENATE AND CREATE A MOVEMENT TO QUESTION IT

Paul Van Slambrouck, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor, December 28, 1999, SECTION: USA; THE LONGER VIEW; Pg. 2 TITLE: In world of high tech, everyone is an island // acs-EE2001

Mr. Talbott, like others in this emerging strata of naysayers, is too much of a realist to argue for the abandonment of the computer. His hope is that technology will, ultimately, galvanize its opposite - the more humanistic traditions in society.

REGULATION OF DANGEROUS IDEAS IS ALL BUT IMPOSSIBLE

Tony Snow, The Detroit News, March 24, 2000, SECTION: Opinion Page; Pg. 15 TITLE: It's time to confront high-tech worries // acs-VT2001

Joy implies that flesh and blood humans are but defective calculating devices, replaceable by more infallible computers. He therefore proposes playing God by urging a tiny intellectual elite to save civilization by imposing the mother of all "thou shalt nots": Thou shalt not explore taboo topics.

This makes him an heir to the Jacobins of the French Revolution who, in the name of reason, used the guillotine to terminate improper thinking. There is no way to shut off the intellectual spigot without resorting to thuggish totalitarianism.

Those who view technology as a self-driving force inevitably encourage draconian "solutions" of this sort because they believe nothing less will save civilization. Fortunately, there's good news: Machines lack that which makes us distinctive -- souls.

Any philosophy that outlaws knowledge makes ignorance the king -- and thus strengthens the despotic power of technologically proficient bad guys. At best, Joy has made a case for vigilance, but not for intellectual vigilantism.