The Technological Tower of Babel: Electronic and Digital Tongues in Media Society :: Technology Technological Essays

The scientific Tower of Babel Electronic and Digital Tongues in Media SocietyWorks Cited MissingAnticipate the moment at which any your personal electronic devices - telephone set audio player, cellular telephone, pager, dictaphone, camcorder, personal digital assistant (PDA), electronic stylus, radiomodem, calculator, Loran positioning system, smart spectacles, VCR remote, data glove, electronic go on shoes that count your locomote and flash warning signals at oncoming cars, medical monitoring system, pacemaker (if you are so unfortunate), and anything else that you might habitually put up or occasionally compact - can seamlessly be linked in a wireless bodynet that allows them to function as an integrated system and connects them to the worldwide digital network. (Mitchell 29) In City of Bits, from which the above quotation was taken, William Mitchell outlines a digitally integrated future which we need only optimistically anticipate. He goes on to discuss the possibility, or perhaps inevitability, of bionic man citizens where digital and electronic devices will extend and enhance human perception, efficiency and overall convenience. However, what is noticeably downplayed in the above quotation is quote to the citizen component of this technological symbiosis. beyond the nebulous assertion that it will be you who will be wearing or carrying these devices, the only element that approximates the notion of a human within this green goddess of interconnected gadgetry is Mitchells concept of the bodynet. But rather than implying that the human body is at the center of a network of technology, this term appropriates a human characteristic and applies it to an marshy collection of digital devices. What Mitchell inadvertently alludes to is the fact that as our cybernetic components begin to communicate with each other, our biological half is more and more relegated to the periphery of this communication, and by extension, of this invigorated cybernetic e xistence. If technology is to play the pivotal role outlined in City of Bits, the most important development to infer out of the notion of the bionic woman citizen may well be the drowning out of the human voice under the increasingly boisterous voice of technology. Although Mitchells concept of the cyborg citizen may be just about years away, the groundwork for the removal of human terminology has already been laid. Not only does technology circumvent human language through intra-technological communication, it also devalues it as humans become more dependent on technologically mediated language transmission. The telephone, the television, and most recently the Internet and digital technologies deconstruct and then reconstitute human content at reception sites.The Technological Tower of Babel Electronic and Digital Tongues in Media Society Technology Technological EssaysThe Technological Tower of Babel Electronic and Digital Tongues in Media SocietyWorks Cited MissingAnticip ate the moment at which all your personal electronic devices - headphone audio player, cellular telephone, pager, dictaphone, camcorder, personal digital assistant (PDA), electronic stylus, radiomodem, calculator, Loran positioning system, smart spectacles, VCR remote, data glove, electronic jogging shoes that count your steps and flash warning signals at oncoming cars, medical monitoring system, pacemaker (if you are so unfortunate), and anything else that you might habitually wear or occasionally carry - can seamlessly be linked in a wireless bodynet that allows them to function as an integrated system and connects them to the worldwide digital network. (Mitchell 29) In City of Bits, from which the above quotation was taken, William Mitchell outlines a digitally integrated future which we need only optimistically anticipate. He goes on to discuss the possibility, or perhaps inevitability, of cyborg citizens where digital and electronic devices will extend and enhance human percept ion, efficiency and overall convenience. However, what is noticeably downplayed in the above quotation is reference to the citizen component of this technological symbiosis. Beyond the nebulous assertion that it will be you who will be wearing or carrying these devices, the only element that approximates the notion of a human within this mass of interconnected gadgetry is Mitchells concept of the bodynet. But rather than implying that the human body is at the center of a network of technology, this term appropriates a human characteristic and applies it to an inert collection of digital devices. What Mitchell inadvertently alludes to is the fact that as our cybernetic components begin to communicate with each other, our biological half is increasingly relegated to the periphery of this communication, and by extension, of this new cybernetic existence. If technology is to play the pivotal role outlined in City of Bits, the most important development to come out of the notion of the c yborg citizen may well be the drowning out of the human voice under the increasingly boisterous voice of technology. Although Mitchells concept of the cyborg citizen may be some years away, the groundwork for the removal of human language has already been laid. Not only does technology circumvent human language through intra-technological communication, it also devalues it as humans become more dependent on technologically mediated language transmission. The telephone, the television, and most recently the Internet and digital technologies deconstruct and then reconstitute human content at reception sites.