“The material world is not just a display of our technology and culture, it is part of us. We invented it, we made it, and in turn it makes us who we are.” Introduction to Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik
Last night I went to a lecture at a local university with Eldest Daughter. The title of the lecture was “Modernity and the Rise of the Technological Society,” and the featured speaker told us, among other things, that our technology and the type of thought required to make and maintain it were changing us into humans with an incapacity to think deeply about the technology and its effects on us. Or something like that. What I got out of Dr. Hanby’s (the speaker’s) remarks was that he believes that we are being shaped and blinded or limited in our thinking by the very technology that we made to serve us and free us. We think that our technological society has made us more free, but we don’t really know what freedom is anymore, and we are too caught up in technological innovation to even be able to think about what true freedom might look like.
Anyway, this morning at the library I found this book that I had requested on the hold shelf. I’m only reading the introduction, but Mr. Miodownik seems to be saying something similar to what Dr. Michael Hanby, the speaker last night, was saying. Only, it looks as if perhaps Mr. Miodownik might think that all these “materials” and “technology” are changing us for the better–that it’s OK that technology has become to some extent our master rather than our servant. I’ll be back after I read the book to let you know what I think.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to finish the book before I had to return it to the library, and I’m still not sure what I think about technology changing us for the better or for the worse. What do you think?
Well…. the printing press was the technology of a previous age, and I don’t think I am wise enough to say if even it has changed us for the better… That probably depends on who US is. And what kind of changes we are talking about, what our definition of BETTER is. Of course, only God can judge these things.
I am put on alert by Mr. Miodownik’s statement that we “invented” and “made” the material world. I guess he is ignoring things like trees and birds and our own bodies? That seems like a big philosophical omission at the outset.
I think the point Mr. Miodownik is making is that these materials that we often take for granted, have a history of development, are intriguingly complex and affect the way we live. The bowls we eat from, the glasses we drink out of, the pavement under our feet. All these things are examples of uses of materials technology. I read the book in 2016, and I did enjoy it, since it demonstrates that these materials are interesting and amazing when you know about them!