Second time around with this book but it is still timely. Postman is a virtual Luddite. His time period is late 17th Century into the Romantic early decades of the 19th Century.
The future is an illusion. Nothing has happened there yet, P. 5
There is no escaping from ourselves. P. 11
We have problems of which Jesus would know nothing. P. 12
18th Century ideas should be important to us. P.19
But Postman has to admit that women were still being burned in the 18th Century and Jefferson, Washington among many others owned human beings. P. 19
You can take any century you wish and find inhumanities but it is in the 18th that you can find for the first time so much that is still valuable in the 21st Century. P. 20
The 18th Century was a century of great scientific advances, P. 21
The 18th Century created the concept of progress.
Reading a book is the best example of Distance Learning. P. 54
Technology can alter the meaning of words such as "truth," "law," "intelligence," and "fact." This is certainly true today. Postman would be stunned at how true his words are today.
In any so-called technology advancement or improvement we should ask who is benefitting and who is not benefitting. Technology always has losers.
During Covid confinement it is well accepted that students lost ground as learning moved online.
Writing this book, Postman declares that he does not have a computer and he finds the internet a distraction. That is obviously going too far. He regarded call-waiting and voice mail as uncivil. He did not use cruise control in his car. Limited his use of fax machines. Snail mail is satisfactory. Would he grow up if he were here today? P. 51
But I like his attitude.
Technology can be an improved means to an unapproved end with collateral damage unknown until it happens. We are glad to have email, but you can hide behind it. The same with voice mail.
He has a chapter on language referring to "postmodern" language concerns. I cannot readily follow his points. P. 58
Postmodern should be a term of derision. Has it lasted? P. 68
In the 17th and 18th Centuries information had context, not like today when it stands alone without context. The change started in the 19th Century with the coming of photography and the telegraph. Postman would have a field day with Tik Tock. Total stand-alone information strictly for entertainment. P. 82
Hence today's information glut. Information as garbage. Information divorced from meaning and purpose. P. 89
Information is sufficient, indeed, overwhelming. The issue is how to manage, how to deal with it when information becomes entertainment and after all, all we care about is being entertained. Marvel movies are a new low. P. 90
The traditional newspaper is kaput. I mourn. P. 90
The newspaper was once a unifier in the country. Its demise is one reason for our increased division. P. 91
How do we determine what is truth and what is false? Postman was concerned about this in the 80's. P. 92
Information is not knowledge. P. 93
Postman says the problem of the 21st Century will be to translate information into knowledge. Not sure about this. P. 98
A natural foundation for morality? No such thing. P. 101
We are at the end of culturally motivating narratives. P. 101
John the Baptist lost his head. :) P. 102
The worship of golden calves had much to say in its favor with the tribe of Moses. P. 102 :)
The 18th Century Enlightenment invented the modern understanding of "childhood." P. 116
Democracy has been defined in different ways throughout the centuries. I am confident with using the term the United States version of democracy. The word defies a precise definition. Yet it is like virtue, which also can be used loosely yet we know what both words tend to mean in action. P. 136
Across society the digital onslaught is necessary and unstoppable, yet at the same the negative side effects are seldom assessed. P. 155
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