PLEASE, MR. POSTMAN

Neil Postman reveals similar attitudes toward technology within both his speech and chapter one. Postman suggests in each that the problems that we currently face and will face in the future have a common root: the very nature of humanity. In chapter one, Postman reveals that man has faced challenges when creating any new form of communication, everything from clocks to the alphabet, and that challenges and consequences will also be faced when shifting toward higher and higher degrees of digitization. In each, however, Postman reveals that these consequences are far greater than we realize, and that the 'adaptations' that are probable do not reflect what is socially healthy.
Postman uses the concept of our definition of humanity to reveal this. As simple inventions such as eyeglasses have become more and more complex- verging on human cloning, both ethics and our definition have shifted also. Postman reveals that our concepts of eternity, spirituality, and interpersonal connections are being altered as technology develops. Clocks monitor each moment with startling accuracy, morphing us into incessantly time-conscious individuals with little concept of time that cannot be measured or numerically represented. As eternity fades, so does our concept of our creator and our position as the created. We begin to place ourselves as immortal and improvable, even perfectible.
Postman also reveals how acceptable communication has been altered throughout history. Written word was viewed as a strange commodity in its early forms, according to anthropologists, as the ancient people's viewed it as a conversation with oneself or an unseen audience. However, it as an adaptation humanity quickly adopted. In the same way, Postman relates that humanity will soon find the absurdity of talking to machines as a viable and healthy form of communication. Postman reveals that these changes already are happening during his time- through the television and the answering machine. Advancements such as texting, facebook, twitter, and others show how accurate these predictions truly were.