CS100 midterm

technological determinism

technology changed society

How can you explain the advent of this technology in a technologically deterministic fashion?

• Argues that writing itself transformed society

• Once people could preserve and distribute information, governments could control larger territories, laws could become more consistent, and knowledge could survive across generations.

• Writing changed how people remembered, learned, and organized their thoughts.

How can you explain the advent of this technology in a technologically deterministic fashion? (Simple version)

The invention of writing caused societies and human thinking to change.

cultural determinism

society demanded change in technology

How can you explain the advent of this technology in a culturally deterministic fashion?

• Argues that society’s needs caused writing to develop

• As societies grew into cities and empires, people needed a way to record taxes, trade, property, laws, religious information, and government decisions.

• According to this view, complex societies created writing because spoken communication and memory could no longer manage everything.

How can you explain the advent of this technology in a culturally deterministic fashion? (Simple version)

Society became more complex, which is why people invented writing to meet their needs.

Why might someone say that technology was one of the greatest developments in human history?

Writing allowed humans to:

• Preserve knowledge beyond an individual person’s memory or lifetime.

• Communicate across long distances and periods of time.

• Record history, laws, agreements, and scientific discoveries.

• Organize large societies and governments.

• Build upon previous generations’ knowledge.

According to Andrew Robinson, writing made history possible because people could create lasting records.

Why might someone say that technology was one of the worst developments in human history?

Someone might argue that writing:

• Weakens memory because people depend on external records.

• Creates the appearance of knowledge without genuine understanding.

• Cannot respond to questions or clarify its meaning.

• Allows governments and powerful groups to spread propaganda and maintain control.

• Can preserve false or harmful ideas as easily as truthful ones.

• Reduces the importance of direct conversation and oral traditions.

For example, Socrates argued that writing could create forgetfulness and make people seem knowledgeable when they had only encountered information. His larger concern was that written words cannot answer questions like a living speaker can.

symbol

anything that stands for or represents something else

sign

narrow, precise unambiguous meaning

tallies

- Notched bones

- concrete info into abstract meanings

- quantitative info

i.e. Could be used to keep track of moon cycle, or how long an illness lasted

tokens

- specific shapes (cones, spheres, disks, cylinders)

- each had a specific meaning and a single concept

- one to one correspondence

- clay was commonly used

discreteness

The info conveyed was specific. Each token shape was bestowed a unique meaning.

papyrus

- lighter then stone

- made from plant

bureaucracy

A large, complex organization composed of appointed officials

"Bureaucratic administration means fundamentally the exercise of control"

cuneiform

A form of writing developed by the Sumerians characterized by triangles and the massing of parallel lines.

quipu

A collection of cords with knots tied in them.

- usually made of cotton

- dyed one or more colours

eloquence

fluent or persuasive speaking or writing

syntax

word order for complex thought sentences.

writing

- Among greatest inventions in human history

- made history possible

-

hieroglyphs

pictures, characters, or symbols standing for words, ideas, or sounds; ancient Egyptians used instead of an alphabet like ours

alphabet

- form a complete set so that all possible words can be represented alphabetically

- all elements are identical and can be repeated

phonetic alphabet

- 1500 b.c.

- each letter represented a consonant linked to several possible syllables

- rough and concise approximation of speech

- greeks added vowels

-n

pictograph

a pictorial symbol for a word or phrase.

interiority of sound

- You can immerse yourself in hearing and sound

- There is no way to immerse yourself similarly in sight

Socrates

(quoted)

- Will introduce forgetfulness

- Hear many things without being properly taught

- Writing continues to signify one thing forever, no way to rebuttal or change

Writing is ok if:

- Writer knows truth

- Writer can engage with challenges outside of the writing

- Writer understands what writing is inferior

Havelock

(quoted)

- Literacy- "the Greeks did not just invent an alphabet, they invented literacy"

- Writing- "script, therefore, came to resemble an electric current communicating a recollection of the sounds spoken word directly to the brain so that the meaning resounded as it were in the consciousness without reference to the properties of the letters used"

The culture of writing in Ancient Greece

- The writing was still precious- more thoughtfgant, eloquent

- Literature world was small-writer and readers knew each other by name

pacey

- technological determinism

- cultural determinism

- progress and technology

Schmandt-Besserat (earliest precursors of writing)

- symbols vs. signs

- data storage

- tallies

- tokens

- discreteness

Innis (media in ancient empires)

- stone vs. papyrus

- bureaucracy

- hieroglyphs

- clay and cuneiform

ascher and ascher

- quipu

- syntax

Andrew Robinson (origins of writing)

- writing

- alphabets

- phonetic vs. pictographic

Walter ong

- interiority of sound

- orality

platos phaedrus

- socratic dialogues

- writing vs. orality in arguments

Havelock and Robert Logan (the greek legacy- writing and the alphabet)

- literacy through the ages

- literacy as culture