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From: colonel@gloria.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: technology in literature
Message-ID: <840@gloria.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Jun-85 11:47:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: gloria.840
Posted: Sat Jun 15 11:47:04 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 18-Jun-85 07:19:38 EDT
References: <370011@acf4.UUCP> <1630@reed.UUCP> <5435@tekecs.UUCP>
Organization: SUNY-Buffalo Computer Sci.
Lines: 26

> > This list is ridiculously one sided.  However, that may be mainly
> > because there isn't that much good literature out there praising
> > technology.  Indeed, it would probably seem silly as Vonnegut showed in
> > "Cat's Cradle." The only good book that conveys a positive image of
> > technology I can think of offhand is Rand's "Anthem."  Anybody out
> > there know of anything other fiction that points out (but not
> > necessarily celebrates) the good side of technology?
> 
> Going back quite aways, how about "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy.  This
> book, published in the 1880s, is about a man of that period who goes to sleep
> and wakes up in the utopian society of the year 2000.  It has been a number
> of years (about 10-15) since I read this book, but I seem to recall that the
> technology was presented very positively. ...

_Looking Backward_ was so uncritically positive about the future that
Stephen Leacock published a story parodying it: "The Man in the Asbestos
Suit." When the narrator reaches the future, he is informed that all
variety has been eliminated as tedious--no more weather, no more women,
and so on.  The future is as uniformly grey as Bellamy's writing style!

I agree that it's silly to praise technology.  The benefits of technology
are manifest whenever you flip a light switch.  The drawbacks are more
subtle.
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel