Is It Necessary?
Lance Strate argues we don’t need to rely on mechanization, industrialism, or technological progress to reach a utopia. This is a relief if you’re playing along at home and have noticed the trend in fictitious literature.
Most fiction tells us technology will be both our destroyer and our savior. From 1984 to Brave New World to Fahrenheit 451, our future consists of a complete collapse of the system, followed by a reconstruction in some markedly automatic, loss-of-humanity way that keeps everyone ignorant and happy. (That’s exactly what has happened on the Axiom…but what’s to stop it from happening again?) If we are trying to achieve societal utopia, now is the time for a failure of self-fulfilling prophesy. No one wants that dystopic future, but most expect it. And even as most expect it, we continue to advance our technology and scare ourselves in the process.
Strate holds that humans have no balance. We are notoriously bad at taking things in moderation, and technology is no exception. Technology allows for nonstop entertainment, and that is now all we want; all we expect. People stopped taking things seriously because there are always entertaining twists on things; the media is so good at glamorizing destruction in a way that keeps people hooked. Even in the face of real terror, there are other things to focus on; other places to turn to get a fix. The media tells what to watch, how to react, and how to think. It now controls us.
We need a revolution. Strate is pulling for a rejection of imbalance; a push to return to humanity. We have to harness technology and steer it toward social, moral, and political progress. Those are all positive goals, but I think it’s unreasonable to call for a total rejection of technology.