The Computer :: Technology Internet Electronics Essays

The Computer Even though J. David Bolter wrote Turing’s Man: Western Culture in the Computer Age in 1984, at least a century ago in computer years, his observations and concerns about the electronic age are in no way obsolete. Bolter examines from a historical perspective how the computer will reshape our understanding of the human mind and our relationship with nature. By comparing the computer with defining technologies of previous ages, Bolter anticipates the many qualities and values of people in the digital age, his so-called â€Å"Turing’s men†. In doing so, he encourages those in the humanities to take an active role in shaping some of the perceptions of the emerging era. Humankind has created, used, and replaced innumerable technologies over the past 10,000 years of written record. Turing’s Man concentrates on only four of these technologies: the spindle and potter’s wheel of ancient Greece, the mechanical clock of Renaissance Western Europe, the steam engine of Industrial Europe, and finally the computer of the electronic age. According to Bolter, each of these inventions â€Å"defines or redefines man’s role in relation to nature†(13). Although Bolter considers the influences of these technologies on many facets of culture and society, his main efforts are devoted to understanding their implications for a culture’s view of time, space, thought, and creation. The spindle and the potter’s wheel of Ancient Greece suggest an intimate relationship between man and nature. The tools are seen more as an extension of the human hand than a barrier between craftsman and material. Bolter argues that the image of the potter, fashioning his finely crafted, but still imperfect vessel on the rotating wheel, made a great impression on the thinkers of that time. The rotating nature of these tools, mimicking the great circular paths followed by celestial bodies, led Aristotle to claim that â€Å"circular motion . . . was natural, whereas motion in a straight line required further explanation†(116). As a consequence, the Greeks adopted a cyclical view of time. The world did not progress forward in linear motion but repeated over and over. Rather than progressing, ideas and institutions would remain static or decay. The potter and his clay also served as a metaphor for divine creation. The world and its human inhabitants were fashioned out of imperfect materials by divine force. This material makes up the entirety of the world.