Technology and Anthropology

Motorboat Cruiser · 12-19-2006, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

As for larger social impacts, I think eventually it could have one harmful effect. Intellecual cocooning. The vast majority of people don't like to be confronted and forced to think about their beliefs and ideas. Their intellectual framework is preferably a passive thing. This is not new and has always been true. But in the past it was difficult to avoid exposure to ideas you didn't like.

Now, you can immerse yourself in a community where everybody thinks exactly as you do. You don't ever have to here a discouraging word or think about the underpinnings of what you think.

Left or right, square or kinky, less filling or tastes great, you can live a life that deludes you into thinking that everyone is just like you. And that is a harmful delusion because everybody reacts poorly when something tries to puncture strongly held delusions.

I think we have been seeing the results of this in the political division we have seen over the past few years. It is now possible to listen to radio shows where everyone agrees or go to message boards where everyone agrees. Personally, I find these kinds of places to be boring to the extreme (even when I happen to agree with them), but too many people would prefer to only hear from those who are like-minded.

Technology has definitely made it easier to avoid being challenged in our beliefs. I think we all suffer a bit from that.

€uroMeinke · 12-19-2006, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

Technology has definitely made it easier to avoid being challenged in our beliefs. I think we all suffer a bit from that.

I'm still not so sure of that - in the past you just moved to like minded communities, whether that be a state of the right color, or a religious group you associated with. There aren't that many social groups we enter into without some sort of selective choice. Even when born into a community you disagree with, there are always the subcultured "liekminded" rebels.

Alex · 12-19-2006, 04:24 PM

Yes, but except for the few groups that did (try to) isolate themselves they still lived most of their daily social lives within a larger community of some sort. And even if there is a self-selected sameness it was much harder to filter out "intrustions." There were also fewer filters of the world out there so for the most part everybody had to work with the same filters and then pervert them to their own ideas. No you can just go out and find the filter that fits you perfectly and never even think, just parrot.

To a large extent I think we may be swapping physical homogeneity with intellectual/emotional homogeneity.

12-19-2006, 04:24 PM	#3
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	Yes, but except for the few groups that did (try to) isolate themselves they still lived most of their daily social lives within a larger community of some sort. And even if there is a self-selected sameness it was much harder to filter out "intrustions." There were also fewer filters of the world out there so for the most part everybody had to work with the same filters and then pervert them to their own ideas. No you can just go out and find the filter that fits you perfectly and never even think, just parrot. To a large extent I think we may be swapping physical homogeneity with intellectual/emotional homogeneity.
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