One-sided Argument

Legitimate arguments require the arguer to consider all angles. In Technology Matters David Nye writes about the relationships between technology and society. Nye is good at finding arguments that support his argument, the problem is that’s all he finds. Not only that, but he finds sources that are old and to me, disconnected from the average American. In chapter eight he quotes from Mulford Q. Silbey's, Utopian Thought and Technology from the American Journal of Political Science vol. 7 No. 2 and Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone. Both sources, though intelligent and well thought discussions seem to only hurt Nye’s arguments instead of help them.
In Sibley’s Utopian Thought and Technology he writes on technology and Utopian society. Nye uses his comments on “market driven” technology to back up his argument on elections for new technology, “technology is so vital a part of life, and collective life particularly, that we cannot afford to leave the fate of man to the hazards of the “market” or accident.” (Silbey, p. 278) This is a valid point but it does raise the question, hasn’t it always been the nature of man to discover the major breakthroughs of technology by “accident”? When man discovered fire did he know that friction of sticks would bring about fire? No, it was just a random caveman who had the unfortunate pleasure of being outside when lightning struck a random object. In 1776, due to an accidental conversation with a milkmaid contaminated with the harmless cowpox disease, Edward Jenner had discovered the soon to be vaccine for smallpox. I do agree that the people should have a say in what companies are producing, but it seems that companies invest in popular products. It seems that it’s not the product that really angers people, it’s the effect that its waste or production has on our environment. Capitalism is all about competition and that creates a very fast paced market for technology. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that some technology is “market driven” or accidently discovered. They’re just investing in something the public wants. Maybe the public does elect our technology, but instead of ballots, dollars and cents declare the victor.
In Putnam’s Bowling Alone, Nye uses the chapter where Putnam discusses the generation’s love of TV resulting in a lack of participation in social groups and politics, “the political scientist Robert Putnam made a similar argument in Bowling Alone, concluding that intensive use of the media undermines civic life” (Nye, p. 153). Bob Dylan once wrote:
“Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'” (Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin')
Life is completely different from the post WW2 America of the 50’s and 60’s. People don’t join these old social groups and setting because they don’t have any connection to them. Though groups like college fraternities still exist and prosper, they don’t hold much similarity to the days when they were originally founded. As times change people change with it. Things like the internet and cell phones have made the weekly gatherings of groups obsolete because people can contact anyone they want to at any time of day. Like Dylan says, “Your old road is rapidly agin’. Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand.” (Dylan) This is another example of Nye using old sources or ideas that don’t relate to today’s society. It is sad that these social groups are fading away, but that’s a fact of life. It’s just that bowling isn’t doing it for the kids these days and sadly, it’s time for them to move on.
Nye does make good points in his book, he addresses real problems like pollution and his comments about technology in relation to cultural evolution are very interesting. I do wish that he used sources that opposed his view because I think he loses originality by only using sources he agrees with. It feels like he’s simply regurgitating other people’s ideas instead of forming his own.