IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2014 - 9

LETTERs TO THE EDITOR

Enslavement by Technology?
Reflections on the IQ2 Debate
on Big Ideas
To the Editor:

I

nteresting, I thought, that the negative won the
debate on the night by the slightest of margins.
Surprising. I wasn't at all convinced, although I
guess it is comforting to believe that I have control, I have choice over, how I interact with technology.
Unfortunately, I'm not that delusional, and was much
more convinced by Katina Michael's speech, which gave
me a visceral sense of how I interact with technology. I
laughed at my own neediness when it comes to the tech
I rely on in my life. It also freaked me out: why do I feel
the desire to check my emails at 3a.m.?!
I view my relationship with tech as an enslavement, since it's become an essential part of my life
and though I've reconsidered some aspects of that
relationship - I no longer participate in social media,
for example - I can't not rely on it in so many other
ways. It's become obvious that I've outsourced my

mind to my phone, and thus imbued it with power
over my life. I've broken out in a cold sweat with just
the thought  that my phone is lost. Indeed, I felt and
acted as though I had lost my mind!
Corporations and governments are well aware of the
power I've given over to my tech, and exploit it consequently, as you would expect, which is another, more
insidious aspect of the enslavement. It makes me uneasy
to think that governments and corporations can directly
access everything in my digital world and in fact do.
I feel it is time to step back from this runaway train
that's pulling me along blindly with the promise of BIGGER and BETTER ways to communicate, do business,
stay alive, explore the universe. I'm told that tech allows
me to be more efficient, more effective in the world, but is
that what I really want? I'm not sure it is.
-Rachel Eldred
Sydney, NSW, Australia
racheldred@optusnet.com.au

To the Editor:

T

he recent IQ2 debate over whether we are
enslaved by technology was both entertaining and timely. Katina Michael's rapper
arguments got the message across strongly
that we denizens of the "infosphere" are challenged
by daily threats to our individual freedoms - whether
they be sinister data trackers, commercial invaders of
our personal space, or Internet-mediated addictions.
Is a monitor so-called because it monitors us as we
tap away at the keyboard?

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2014.2364011
Date of publication: 1 December 2014

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

|

WINTER 2014

Intelligence squared (IQ2) debate at the City Recital
Hall, sydney, Australia, August 12, 2014.

Is a screen so named because it screens us away
from genuine human contact? Does a cell (phone)
lock us into solitary confinement and alienation?
Judging by the audience response to Katina's imaginative performance, the Panglossian "no" case may have
won a merely rhetorical victory on the night of the debate.
|

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