Journal of Applied Communications Volume 78 | Issue 1 Article 7 Questioning Technology: Tool, Toy or Tyrant? James W. King Follow this and additional works at: http://newprairiepress.org/jac Recommended Citation King, James W. (1994) "Questioning Technology: Tool, Toy or Tyrant?," Journal of Applied Communications: Vol. 78: Iss. 1. https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.1398 This Review is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Applied Communications by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact cads@k-state.edu. Questioning Technology: Tool, Toy or Tyrant? Abstract A review of Questioning Technology: Tool, Toy or Tyrant?, edited by John Zerran and Alice Carnes. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. This review is available in Journal of Applied Communications: http://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol78/iss1/7 King: Questioning Technology: Tool, Toy or Tyrant? Q uestioning Techn ology: Tool. Toy or Tyrant ? Edited by John Zerza n and Alice Carnes. New Sodety Pub lishers. Philadelphia PA, 199 1. ( ISBN 0-86571,205·0). $1 2.95. "Technology and technologkal decisions structure our minds and, in doing so. our relaUons with each other and with the natural world. Whether we use tools to control or tnh&nce. all our rela1lons arc shape<I as much by the tools themselves as by any other set of cultural assumptiOns or soc::lal structures." With this charge, Questio11it1g TechnCXO!JY takes us on an e,ch\le· rating intellech.1al joumey. From television to computer. modern communication and information technologies have l>een fus-ed into seemingly every comer of our lives. As we debate these technolo• gies and their effects. this collection of 35 poper, will enrich and deep.en our conve~tion.s. The .selections range from the clossic-s of ~wis Mumford ( ..Authoritarian and Democratic Technics from Technology ond Culture") ond Jo(ques Ellul ("'The Te(hnological Society") to the <"Ontemporary Langdon Winner eMythinformotion") and Jerry Mander ("Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television'"). The three sections of Questioning Technology envelop the t«:hoo• logical front: lht history of technology and its impact on o ur future, computers and Informed individuals, and an analysis of technology ond meanings. The Jul.hors explore i,sues $uch as the development or encroachment of technology. the computer ond the printing pre.ss as comp.erable te<:hnologles, and the evolution or technologies as o new order. Each outhor questions basic O$$umptions with well reosoned and provocative arguments. Many of the articles ore, in fact. classics of the litcroture of tc(hnok>gy. They include James Gormon's "M.an, Bytes, Dog" end Solly Georhort's "An End to Technology." Severo! writers even d ispute the sacred concept of modem learn• ing technology, interc1cllon. They (hallenge how and what people learn from technology and its affect on human reltHtOn.ships. Several critics scrutinize the notions of l11form.,tlon and communicalion, <"losing with the ('(>ntroversy, "Is technology ,1eultatr Queslloning Technology's aim, of (oursc. is to e,ccite readers and force them $Criously to renect on technolog)•. The editors want to •re,tngage our hearts ond minds in the search for truly appropriate and accountable technologies. Although most of the book's questions and Issues are beyond the control of the nocmal communicator. they make us confront still .Jour1t•I Published by New Prairie Press, 2017 of Applr«I Comm11nk,illOIIJ.. Vol. 78. No. 1. 1994/ 43 1 Journal of Applied Communications, Vol. 78 [1994], Iss. 1, Art. 7 basic c:oneerns over the appltcat!Qn Qf te<:hnc,!ogy. The book"s major limitation. an(;! b somewhot irtitating one. is its lack of t he great supp<>rte.rs of technology $u<:h as Kir$tCn Hooper, Marvin Minsky. Alan Koy. or Seymour Papett. Wlthwt their voices I.he book is less thon complete. Nou:ibly and unexpectedly absent is f,,\cluhon. but bce.ouse his arguments hove been so well discussed ror so mony years. his exclusion is not irritating. Neverthele$$, with the flourishing interc.M in sustoinoble systems, technological roles and applications have to be questioned. Ques· liMing Technology gives each of us an opportunity to f.oce ond rethink our re!.oitionships with tc<:hno!,ogics in communication as being more than simple channels. We have to consider their imp.octs on our .oudience-s. The medium is itself a message. James W. King University or N eb rask a.Lincoln Send future manuscripts Co: ACE Headquarters University of Florida Building 116. Mowry Road , Gainesville FL 326 11-08 10 http://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol78/iss1/7 ..COum,d <,/ Apprted Commu11k,1.llons, Vot 78, No. 1. 1994/44 DOI: 10.4148/1051-0834.1398 2