{"id":10672,"date":"2024-02-04T18:54:11","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T23:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=10672"},"modified":"2024-02-05T23:02:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T04:02:36","slug":"rhetoftechfebruary06","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/rhetorictechnologyspring2024\/rhetoftechfebruary06\/","title":{"rendered":"February 6th: The Religion of Technology (Part 1 of 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Plan for the Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Back up for any questions on previous readings<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/rhetorictechnologyspring2024\/rhetoftechfebruary01\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/rhetorictechnologyspring2024\/rhetoftechfebruary01\/\">Oudshoorn&#8217;s &#8220;The Decline of the One-Size-Fits All Paradigm&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/genderdigital\/marxism\/\"><strong>Marxism Discussion<\/strong><\/a> (we covered a little bit of this during Winner)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>David Noble&#8217;s <em>The Religion of Technology<\/em> (pp. 1-87)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How about those <strong>Technology and Yourself<\/strong> drafts&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>All-Too-Common Arguments&#8230;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conniff, Richard.<\/strong> &#8220;In the Name of the Law: How to Win Arguments without Really Trying.&#8221; <em>Smithsonian<\/em>, vol. 38, no. 7, Oct. 2007, p. 128.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have this on Canvas under February 6th. It&#8217;s not required reading, but it&#8217;s a one-page article that discusses <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reductio_ad_Hitlerum\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reductio_ad_Hitlerum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argumentum ad hitlerum<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. This is a reading I assign in other classes, but, because it&#8217;s Presidential Election season and social media is loaded with this fallacy, I have to mention it. Where (out there in the world) do you read\/see\/hear arguments that compare one group or another to NAZIs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li> \u201c<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Godwin's_law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Godwin\u2019s Law<\/a><\/strong>\u2026holds that the longer an argument drags on, the likelier someone will <em>stoop<\/em> to a Hitler or Nazi analogy\u201d (emphasis mine, para. 2) <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\nDiscussions of genocide\u2026why don\u2019t speakers go back further and point to the genocide of indigenous cultures in the Americas?\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\nPrepackaged, ready-made arguments: \u201cThese little laws [e.g., Godwin&#8217;s Law] allow us to sound intelligent without having to do any homework\u201d (para. 3)\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\nWhat other prepackaged arguments do you hear?\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>David Noble&#8217;s <em>The Religion of Technology<\/em> (pp. 1-87)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;d like to point out an often repeated (by me) quotation from a former professor of mine told our class that people hate being told that their culture is based on societal constructions and has no connection to absolute truth  (paraphrased from memory):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;cultural pride deals in absolute value or worth\u2014they don\u2019t want to hear it\u2019s contextual&#8221; (Thomas Van, 9\/16\/2003). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Being the cultural, social creatures that we are, much of our world (our knowledge and reality) is shaped by our experiences. I know some don&#8217;t like to hear this, but we are rarely able to free ourselves from the cultures into which we&#8217;re born. <strong><font color=\"red\">Even the choices we think we have are simply choices on a cultural menu, a relatively well-defined grouping that&#8217;s socially constructed.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there&#8217;s good news about cultural constructions and perceptions. Because members of a culture share commons backgrounds and ideologies, we can see patterns to the social constructions that emerge (e.g. technologies). Think about language for a moment: You might not be conscious of it, but, when you use idioms, refer to <em>Seinfeld<\/em> episodes, and use language, you&#8217;re engaging in socially constructive activities. How might you react to the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;Hindsight is 20\/20, so your Monday Morning Quarterbacking isn&#8217;t impressive.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;That outfit is so Seinfeld&#8217;s puffy shirt.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;Let&#8217;s grab a buggy before going into Harris Teeter.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;I&#8217;m fixing to leave here.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;It&#8217;s like finding a needle in a coal mine.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Break a leg!&#8221; {<em>In buco al lupo<\/em>&#8230;<em>creppi<\/em>.}<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David F. Noble&#8217;s &#8220;The Religion of Technology&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s try to first define &#8220;the religion of technology.&#8221; Noble&#8217;s book seems to first define it (via <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Scotus_Eriugena\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Erigena<\/a>) as humanity&#8217;s pursuit to discover &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/prelapsarian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prelapsarian<\/a> powers&#8221; (pp. 16-17). However, there is more to it as the book unfolds. Broadly, I think we may define <strong><font color=\"red\">&#8220;the religion of technology&#8221; as the ideology driving technological advancement in order to gain salvation and (as the second half of Noble&#8217;s book demonstrates) become godlike&#8211;creators of life.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, we&#8217;ll concentrate on the pursuit of scientists and engineers to restore paradise for the new Adam. I&#8217;ll argue that regardless of your religious or non-religious beliefs, you&#8211;a citizen or visitor in this culture&#8211;have been influenced by the politics surrounding the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Abrahamic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Abrahamic religions<\/a>. Pull out a dollar or tell me your plans for mid-December to early January if you disagree&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.uncc.edu\/aaron-toscano\/genderdigital\/religiontech\/\">Let&#8217;s go to a webpage devoted to Noble&#8217;s book.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Next Class<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep up with your reading and have Noble&#8217;s book read up to p. 171.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plan for the Day All-Too-Common Arguments&#8230; Conniff, Richard. &#8220;In the Name of the Law: How to Win Arguments without Really Trying.&#8221; Smithsonian, vol. 38, no. 7, Oct. 2007, p. 128. I have this on Canvas under February 6th. It&#8217;s not required reading, but it&#8217;s a one-page article that discusses argumentum ad hitlerum. This is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":10556,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10672","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-2M8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10672"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10689,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10672\/revisions\/10689"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}