I started my reading habit again this new year. I am reading two books. One of them is a bibliography called Wild Swan, and the other one is called Big Switch. Both of them are interesting, especially when I read the contrast ideas at the same time. The later suggests that technology is a major force of changes to society and human behavior throughout history, while the former alludes that political ambition and human ideology brought revolutionary changes to the nation, and technology was not much mentioned.
I have just read chapter one of Big Switch. The author started talking about a big machine invented in the 19th century, that led to mass agricultural production. This machine has changed the economy and fed many. Then, when Thomas Edison discovered electricity, the machine powered by hydraulic energy was abandoned, and electricity became the sole of mass production and more lives were changed. Nowadays, information technology became the backbone of economy and even national security. Almost nobody can live without it. The author asserted that electricity and information technology has one thing in common: both of them relies on a central processing media to distributor services, that is also the key for inexpensive and widely available services. Therefore, they brought about dramatic changes to society. Then, so what? I am looking to find out more....
What will the author of Wild Swan think about technology? I wonder....For a woman growing up in the 1930s and 40s in China, I am very curious what she would think about the relationship between technology and human lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment