Technophobia

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Technophobia is the fear of or revulsion to modern technology and is the opposite of technophilia. Sometimes the term is used in the sense of an irrational fear while others defend that the fears are justified.

Contents 1 Real world examples 2 Technophobia in popular culture 3 Technophobic groups 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Real world examples

Technophobes argue (justified or not) that certain technology is too powerful for humanity to be trusted with and they fear scientists who engage in rampant technological discovery without regard for the social consequences.

Genetic engineering is one such example, as some people view interfering with the natural course of life to be arrogant and dangerous. While they may approve of the science in correcting genetic mutations, the idea of cloning or "bettering" humanity is morally distasteful and could lead to a point where what we think of as "human" completely changes, even to the point of having two different races (the "improved" and the "normals"). A less philosophical fear is the danger associated with manipulating minor organisms which could result in the accidental development of a super-virus that kills all of humanity.

Nanotechnology, or the use of millions of microscopic robots, is a similar technology that is sometimes feared could go out of control. The fear is often nested in the assumption that these tiny robots can make each other (programmed so because so many are needed to do anything). These robots then replicate out-of-control, turning a large portion of the planet into a grey goo.

Other real-life (and much more minor) examples of technophobia are sedate, such as people who choose to avoid learning to use a computer, or people who decline to use or obtain cell phones or pagers. Another manifestation would be people who (when withdrawing cash), choose to interact with a person (a "live" bank teller) rather than interacting with a machine (an Automatic Teller Machine). However, most of these people simply find interacting with a person more convenient and are not afraid of the new technology.

[edit] Technophobia in popular culture

The term can be used to describe more broad-ranging fears of technology's potential for societal power and social control. Many examples of this are seen in popular culture, in general, and in movies and television shows in particular (especially those in the science fiction genre). In 1960, for example, the television series The Twilight Zone' presented an episode called A Thing About Machines: Richard Haydn portrayed a magazine writer who hated the many machines in and about his home, and wound up being physically confronted by them. Another example is the Dune novels, set in a time when so-called "thinking machines" are forbidden due to a pivotal conflict known as the Butlerian Jihad.

Technophobia was a theme in the films of eighties with rogue robots cropping up in The Terminator, as well as Ash and Bishop in the Alien film series, which also show technophobia of the future: "hi-tech racism and android apartheid." . ^{[1] [2]} More recent examples of this concern the controlling nature of technology which is exemplified in movies such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Matrix series, both of which present futures where artificial intelligence has killed or subjugated most of mankind (See: dystopia). This can also be see in the 2004 thriler I, Robot (film) loosely based on the novel by Isaac Asimov. Technophobia is also shown, for example, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

In addition, the popular and long-running television series Star Trek, which traditionally has been very pro-technology, has capitalised on the mid-1990's onward upsurge in technophobia by increasingly depicting technology as a rampant, overwhelming, and threatening force. In the process they created the famous Borg, a species that was once much like mankind, but was completely engulfed by its own omnipresent technology and no longer resembles anything remotely human. More recently, Star Trek has also capitalised on the growing controversy over cloning and genetic engineering by reviving an old storyline involving the hypothetical 21st century Eugenics Third World War, in which genetically enhanced humans attempted to overthrow the natural human order and replace it with their own Social Darwinist society.

[edit] Technophobic groups

Several societal groups are often said to be technophobic, notably Luddites and the Amish. Sometimes, businesses and environmentalist groups trying to prevent the spread of a technology are also called technophobic by opponents even though they may only be advocating something they describe as "best practice".

In contrast, a Luddite has a social stance against technology, not simply a fear. The Amish (and some Mennonites) state that they are against modern technology because of religious convictions.

[edit] See also

• technophilia
• dystopia
• science fiction
• Luddite
• Amish
• Mennonite
• Minimalism in Philosophy
• Technophobia: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology by Dan Dinello

[edit] References