Technology + Society = (answer possibly below)

First off, I agree with everyone on here who has commented on the difficulty of these readings (let alone the zombie-like gaze one inherits from it when done).

Starting with Bush, we are given the interesting experience of reading an article by a man who has used and coordinated his scientific talent for warfare. The article is from 1945 so warfare is about to be a less prosperous business for a little while. Bush talks of progress in certain areas including photography and goes into the realm of "what if." Bush's article praises science for its advancements at that time and its possibilities for the future but acknowledges that man may destroy itself with its weapons before truly coming into their own wisdom.

Marshall McLuhan has the chapter title of "The Medium is the Message," which states that personal and social consequences of any medium results from the new scale introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves or by any new technology. McLuhan has the stance that our developed technology affects culture and the society as a whole. Through his little tour down history lane and a clever relation between Shakespeare and media, the reader is made aware of "staples to society" and how mediums becomes "fixed charges" on the entire psychic life of a community.

Williams focuses on the notions of cause and effect for technologies and their impacts on society. He goes into the invention of television and how "the technology is in effect accidental. Beyond the strictly internal development of the technology there is no reason why any particular invention should have come about." He makes the argument though that if television had not been invented then we as people would find another way to be mindlessly entertained. Williams' article was interesting to me in the fact that he believes media institutions need to be aware of the social problems that each new technical phase will bring. Society is affected in its own way by each new invention changing a medium (or creating one), and our life as we know it is possibly forever altered (as with the case of the television) as a new technology becomes an important part of our current human existence.

Englebart's article discusses the idea of augmenting human intellect and goes into great detail on the topic with direct quotes from our old friend Dr. Bush. The quotes from Bush are used to backup his ideas on how augmenting people may cause a cooperative intellectual effort that brings positive change.

In conclusion, all four of the authors have similar thoughts on technology and its ability to drive and change a society. While Williams article seems to focus more on the television and its negative effects on society, Bush and Englebart (buddies I'm sure) write about the possibilities that each new technology brings. Society is affected and then the technology is built upon. I see McLuhan more on page with Williams as technologies become staples on our lives that we quickly become dependent on, an extension of ourselves. While the authors each take their own approach to the idea of technology and its impact on society, they agree on the fact that it is built upon making our lives easier while creating a dependency.