"Are modern-day college campuses technopolies?"

Since I have chosen to write my final paper on Technopoly, I had to refresh my memory on its main arguments and information. I did this by not only skimming through the book but also by reading my previous blog entries on the book; it was funny to read how I titled one blog entry "Not So Crazy Niel Postman". Looking back on my first impression of the book, I really did think that Niel Postman's argument was illogical and his story about King Thamus was...interesting. I mean, not only was Postman creating words like  "technopoly" but he was also referring to Greek mythology and relating it to technology in America. However, the connection between today's society's use of technology and the invention of writing that is discussed in the story of King Thamus makes sense to me now. Postman is basically trying to point out that technological innovations have dumbed down American society the way King Thamus predicted writing would make people use their minds less.

In order to connect Technopoly to a modern-day college campus, I need to decide whether the campuses are technopolies or not. Technopoly, a term invented and therefore defined by Niel Postman, is roughly a society that relies greatly on technology; so much so that the society's aim is "... a grand reductionism in which human life must find its meaning in machinery and technique."(pg 52). Postman mentions how the United States is the only country that is currently a Technopoly and that it keeps a careful eye on other countries that are trying to become Technopolies like Japan. The origin, according to Postman, of Technopoly can be traced back to the nineteenth-century when Auguste Comte tried to construct a science of society through positivism and sociology (pg 52).

Since it is encouraged to focus on the modern-day college campus and education system, I have to do some more research on those topics but from my own conclusion of them based on experience is as follows: modern-day college campuses in the United States are technopolies. This is based on the reliance on electronic grading, mail, scheduling and other functions that professors and students have. The intent of higher education in the United States is to produce educated people who can contribute to society through various employment. Colleges also have the goal to produce well rounded and the utilization of computers prepares students for jobs which will most likely rely on  computers in one form or another. Postman claims that being a Technoloply is fine as long as people are still educated about other historical development of humanity like language and history; since colleges provide education on those things, I don't think Postman objects to the technology of college campuses.