10.47313 The Culture of Technology: Understanding New Media as The Extension of Man in Critical Review

The Culture of Technology: Understanding New Media as The Extension of Man in Critical Review

Abstract

Interpreting technological culture in the context of new media technology
can be interpreted as a reference to new objects that have sophisticated capabilities.
This definition generally includes hardware (hardware) that can be seen and used
to meet human needs. One example of an important phenomenon in the field of
technology is when the snowmobile was created at a winter sports festival in
North America in 1960 (Pacey, 2000). Thanks to this machine around the ski race
area, the mobility of people in the snowy area is greatly helped. As a result, sales
of snowmobiles at that time soared because of the large market demand. Uniquely,
the use of this snowmobile turns out to have a different function in other parts of
the country. For example, in Sweden, Greenland, and Canada, snowmobiles have
now become part of the main equipment people rely on for their livelihoods. In
Swedish Lapland, snowmobiles are used for reindeer herding. On Canadian Bank
Island, this machine has allowed trapping Eskimo to continue to provide their
families with cash income from the traditional winter harvest of fox fur.
Differences in cultural background and how to use the machine then raise
the question associated with technology, namely, is technology actually morally,
culturally, and politically neutral? If you look at the basic construction of the
machine and its working principle, then “Yes, neutral technology.” But when
viewed from the human activities around the machine, its role as a status symbol,
and the owner’s skills, the answer is no. For example, residents of the Serawai
tribe in Sumatra use a sickle knife to harvest oil palm fruit bunches from their
trees. while the Javanese people use sickles to harvest rice in the fields as one
of the harvest methods, in this case, it can be said that the function of the sickle
as a harvesting technology is neutral because the working principle is the same.
It is different if the sickle is used as a symbol of the name of a group whose
members are obsessed with a school of thought that becomes the ideology of
their movement. Or, for example, it is used as a symbol of power that only a few
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Universitas Nasional, Jalan Sawo Manila Pejaten Pasar Minggu Jakarta Selatan - 12520
Universitas Nasional, Jalan Sawo Manila Pejaten Pasar Minggu Jakarta Selatan - 12520 - 59 -
people in a tribe can have, as a representation of a high role in the cultural values
held by the group. In this case, technology cannot be said to be neutral because it
is associated with moral values or ideology that only apply to a group of people.
The ambiguity of the meaning of technology also often occurs in the use of
the terminology itself, namely the words “technical” and “technology”. Referring
to the explanation (Pacey, 2000), if you use adjectives that only refer to the
technical aspects of practice, such as, “the destruction of the classroom building
on the UI campus in Salemba due to age will be carried out with technical repairs”.
What is used here is “technical improvement,” not “technological improvement,”
as it is an attempt to solve technical problems only and ignores possible
changes in practice. On the other hand, when discussing the development of
technological practice, which includes aspects of its organization, how to describe
it as “technological development” because it shows that they are not limited by
technical form. Thus, technology is no longer limited to hardware aspects but also
needs to include aspects of liveware, as technology practices in the application of
scientific knowledge and knowledge for practical tasks by commanding systems
involving people and organizations, living things, and machines.
Citing the views of Marshall McLuhan in his book entitled, “Understanding
Media: The Extensions of Man,” the author underlines three major themes,
namely, the thesis that media technology is an extension of the human body;
the idea of a global village; and McLuhan’s famous adage that the media is the
message. Part 1: The Main Theme in Understanding Media is Media as Human
Extension (2012) views the media as “an extension of ourselves” (p. 19) and the
result of efforts to relieve the stresses and burdens of life. For example, because
the legs are not able to cope with the demands of speed in the growth of the
monetary economy, humans invented the wheel as an extension of the legs. But,
according to McLuhan, humans must automatically amputate their legs to replace
them with wheels. This principle of amputation of extension is echoed by Postman
(1993) in McLuhan (2012), when he presents media adoption as a bargaining chip
“where technology gives and technology lets go”. McLuhan applies his views on
technology as body amputation to several media. Thus, “telephones expand our
voice, television expands our eyes and ears; computers lengthen our brains, and
electronic media, in general, expand our central nervous system.” McLuhan also
believes that new technology imposes a type of narcosis on the user. This is how
the body shuts down.