I can relate to Mike Hon’s post about only needing internet cable.. I have gotten the same reaction to only having cable internet and to not having a TV. Pretty funny.
It made me think of a book I have started reading which I am borrowing from a friend. Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television was written by Jerry Mander (yes, that is his actual given name).
He was an advertizing executive in the 60s and early 70s, and was very very good at it. This makes his work speak much more loudly as he had so much exposure to using Television both as a commercial medium as well as for social purposes. He holds that technology is not neutral. That some technologies will inherently only be good for some things.
Highly recommended reading even though I have only just started it. More as it develops.
You rock, I just started reading this book this past week also (I saw it mentioned in a documentary called “Life at the End of Empire”). During the couple of hours I’ve spent reading it I’ve gotten up to the 2nd argument about “the colonization of experience”.
I look forward to reading what you have to say once you get through it. Even though it was written in the 70s, its arguments stand the test of time – as most of the abuses of this technology have only become more blatant.
Cheers