Transcript This I Am Wondering About…..

Neil Postman, Chair, (1931-2003)
New York University
Culture and Communications Department
Amusing Ourselves to Death
Chapter 1
The Medium Is The Metaphor
What is the task
of the social critic?
TO
INDUCE
DISSONANCE
"People who like to avoid shocking discoveries, who
prefer to believe that society is just what they were
taught in Sunday School, who like the safety of the
rules and maxims of what Alfred Schutz has called
'the world-taken-for-granted,‘ should stay away from
this course.“
Peter Berger
Invitation to Sociology
"To believe that the world is only
as you think it is, is stupid…The
world is a mysterious place."
Carlos Cataneda
Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan
“I am teaching you how to see as opposed to merely looking ,
and stopping the world is the first step to seeing .
Stopping the world is not a cryptic metaphor that really doesn't
mean anything. And its scope and importance as one of the
main propositions of my knowledge should not be misjudged.
I am teaching you how to stop the world . Nothing will work,
however, if you are very stubborn. Be less stubborn, and you
will probably stop the world with any of the techniques I teach
you.
Everything I will tell you to do is a technique for stopping the
world.”
“Understanding Begins With Contradiction”
Susan Sontag
This I Am Wondering About…..
“The last sentence in the chapter, “our metaphors
create the content of our culture, is a little
confusing.”
How can Postman make the jump from media to
metaphor and from metaphor to content of culture?”
“Why is television a metaphor? I could see when someone is
talking or writing they need to compare things they are talking
or writing about to something else to help create an image in
their listener’s head, but television provides the image flat
out??”
101 Things I Learned in fourOne7
Pivotal Terms In The Study of
Human Communication
Message
Social Cognition
Medium
Culture
If you wanna play the game, you gotta speak the
language…..
The Literal Definition
Metaphor
A metaphor asserts a structural
similarity between two domains
normally thought to be separate
All subjects are based on
powerful metaphors which
direct, and organize the
way we do our thinking.
The Raisin Bread Metaphor
Imagine an enormous loaf of breaddough with raisins scattered through
it. The dough is expanding, and, as it
does, it drives the raisins apart in all
directions. If this is a model of the
universe, the raisins are the galaxies,
and space is being created between
them all of the time.
.
Our raisin is the Milky Way galaxy
What metaphors have been used
to describe the Internet?
What metaphors have been used
to describe the Internet?
Cyberspace
The Information Super Highway
The Digital Frontier
The Electronic Marketspace
Virtual Community
What do you think?????
What are some of the metaphors which
might be used to describe and think
about the role of the teacher?
Teacher As…...
Teacher as Gardener
Teacher as Mountain-Guide
Teacher as Entertainer.
Teacher as Information Conduit
?
Teacher as Coach.
Teacher as Evangelist.
Teacher as Salesperson
What do you think…..?
What are some metaphors which might
be used to describe intimate-romantic
relationships?
Relationships As…..
Relationship as uncontrollable force…..
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“I was overcome…”
“We are just drifting…”
“I am falling fast…”
“It is almost like an obsession…”
“He takes my breath away…”
“I felt like a couldn’t breathe…”
“It was meant to be….”
“We are like magic…”
“Falling head over heals….”
Relationship as Danger…...
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“You better keep on your toes….”
“It was almost frightening….”
“We both felt tied down….”
“Be careful…….”
“You may get hurt or burned….”
“In your arms I never felt more safe…”
“It is so good because we both feel safe..”
Relationship as Machine…..
 “The relationship is rubbing me the wrong
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way….”
“Seems to be lots of friction lately…”
“Been pretty much on-off, on-off……
“God, the sparks just flew….”
“I think we are headed for a breakdown.”
“Things are really clicking….”
“Can’t complain, running smoothly…”
Relationship as Game or Sport
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“You going out hunting?”
“It was a “rebound date.”
“Did you score?”
“Why do you play cat and mouse?”
“Would you ever cheat on me?”
“I need a kiss, it’s a rule.”
“It was nice to win one for a change.”
“Every time I hear something bad about my “ex”
it’s like a trophy.”
“Stranded at first base again, huh?”
Relationship As Container
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“I really feel trapped….”
“We both needed our space….”
“Just our inner circle…..”
“She was cramping my style….”
“Its an inside-outside thing….”:
“Outside interests were getting in the way”
“We have developed our space…”
Relationships as War
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“I got ammunition to use against him…”
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“It such a battle…”
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“Your going to be another casualty…”
“Do you keep a body count?”
 “I held off his advances….”
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Relationships As Work
“We really need to work on it….”
 “I know we can make things work.”
 “We need to cement our
relationship”
 “We are rebuilding…”
 “Are you going to work things out?”
 “The foundation is a little shaky.”
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“Its getting to be a real effort to love you.”
Email From Suzanne (After the Divorce)
I'm bummed that I couldn't make this work. I'm really bummed
that while there aren't kids to worry about in this marriage, I'm
going to lose you and Tracy. Life sucks!
Relationships as Economic Exchange
“We forged a compromise…”
 “She cut of the supply….”
 “A favorable rate of exchange….”
 “Gotta give a little, take a little…”
 “Like buying a new car….”
 “Really did not invest much….”
 “We struck a deal….”
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Relationship as Manufactured Product
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“We were made for each other….”
“We are putting the parts back together..”
“We have some building to do…”
Relationship as Journey
 “We are progressing…”
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“Things are going to fast, we need to slow
down…”
“What a trip….”
“We are stalled, things are at the crossroads..”
“I think we are both headed in the same
direction.”
“There is no turning back….”
“We on on our way to forever…”
Relationship as Adventure/Quest
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“He is so intriguing….”
“We are still discovering each other…”
“I need to find myself…”
“There is so much to discover…”
“She is so mysterious…”
“It has opened so many new horizons…”
Relationship As Organism
“I can’t live without her…”
 “She is lovesick…”
 “We are in our infancy….”
 “Need to pump some life into….”
 “My love will never die…”
 “Do you think we can survive…”
 “We have grown so much…”
 “It needs resuscitation…”
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Relationship as Family
“He is like my big brother….”
 “We take care of each other…”
 “We watch out for each other…”
 “We would kill for each other…”
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Relationship as Fairy Tale
“This can’t be happening…”
 “I was in his spell….”
 “I was zapped…”
 “How did I get so lucky….”
 “How did we ever find each other…”
 “Do you think we will live happily every after..”
 “You are my angel…”
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What does it mean to say that the
medium is the metaphor?
What does it mean to say that the
medium is the metaphor?
What are out culture’s media metaphors?
The Voice
The Printed Word
The Television
The Computer
What does it mean to say that
the medium is the metaphor?
What does it mean to say that the
medium is the metaphor?
1.
Mediums function metaphorically by
influencing how we think
What does it mean to say that the
medium is the metaphor?
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Not simply machines for conveying
information
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They function like metaphors to
influence our view of reality
Media Metaphors Are Like TheoriesThey Furnish a Camera Lens
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Through which we view the world
Through which we sequence the world
Through which we frame the world
Through which we classify the world
Through which we enlarge/reduce
Through which we color the world
Through which we make an argument
about what the world is like
What does it mean to say that the medium is the metaphor?
2. Mediums assert a structural similarity
between their content and the world of
whatever portion of it they are
representing.
Media Imply They Are Showing Us
“The World”
Agree or Disagree?
“Also, even if the medium did change
the message, it was only a slight
change, today since television, radio,
and even computers are so common, I
don’t think that says the message is
affected by the medium is as true as it
used to be.”
101 Things I Learned in Communication fourOne7
Pivotal Terms In The Study of
Human Communication
Message
Social Cognition
Medium
Culture
The Medium-Cognition Relationship
How is your mind influenced by television?
How is the way you think
about relationships
about education
about politics
about religion
about consumption
 Influenced by exposure to this
particular form of communication

This I Am Wondering About…..
“The last sentence in the
chapter, “our metaphors create
the content of our culture, is a
little confusing.”
101 Things I Learned in Communication fourOne7
Mediums function like metaphors to shape out
messages and our mind
Message
Social Cognition
Medium
Culture
Culture
Politics
Education
Religion
What does it mean to say that
television is like radiation?
What does it mean to say that
television is like radiation?
Invisible
 Always with us
 Harmless in small doses
 Fatal in high does
 Damage that you can’t see
 Effect take a long time to develop
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Very simply, sunburn and UV light can damage your
skin, and this damage can lead to skin cancer.
Most people receive 80% of their lifetime exposure
to the sun by 18 years of age.
Remember, skin cancer is very slow to develop. The
sunburn you receive this week may take 20 years
or more to become skin cancer.
This I am wondering about…..
“One thing I did not quite understand is Postman’s
reference to smoke signals.”
“When referring to the political arena, Postman states
“you cannot do political philosophy on television. It’s
form works against the content.” I am not sure what
this means.”
According to the Boy Scouts
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One puff meant
ATTENTION.
Two puffs meant
ALL'S WELL.
Three puffs of
smoke, or three fires
in a row, signifies
DANGER, TROUBLE,
OR A CALL FOR
HELP.
101 Things I Learned in Communication fourOne7
All Messages Have
Form
Substance
Style
101 Things I Learning in Com fourOne 7
There is a relationship between
medium form and message substance
“Our attention here is on how forms of
public discourse regulate and even
dictate what kind of content can issue
from such forms.”
Neil Postman
Amusing Ourselves To Death
101 Things I Learning in fourOne7
All Mediums Have Biases
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A medium favors certain types of message
content
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A medium may favor certain modes of
representing or symbolizing the world
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A medium may favor certain cognitive capacities.
If all mediums have biases, and a medium
may favor certain types of message
content/message substance, what types of
content does the televisual medium tend to
favor?
101 Things I Learned in Communication fourOne7
What types of message content
does the televisual medium favor?
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1. Conflict (harmony is boring)
2. Drama (in the form of narrative)
3. Immediacy
4. Novel or the unusual (bad vs. Good)
5. Simplicity vs. Complexity
6. Visual (rapid visual imagery)
7. Emotional vs. rational
Voices From The Front
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“He begins talking about a clock..now if
one looks at a watch to see what time it is,
he or she is usually not interested in how
the watch works…and it one watches TV,
no one is not concerned with how it is
controlling how one thinks…but than he
begins to talk about….this section really
confused me….”
“I am teaching you how to see as opposed
to merely looking , and stopping the world is
the first step to seeing .
Why are media
consumers so
unaware of the
influence these
messages might
be having on thei
attitudes, values
and buying
habits?
“It is because they
don’t know about
the power of the
messages, how
the media work or
how to impact the
system.”
Voices From The Front
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““I did find it hard to follow the part about
Lewis Mumford’s idea of the clock and the
creation of the idea of moment to
moment”
“What does “…in every tool we create, an
idea is embedded that goes beyond the
function of the thing itself,” mean?
"The
mechanical clock dates from the
14th Century... The machine that
mechanized time did more than regulate
the activities of the day: it synchronized
human reactions, not with the rising and
setting sun but with the indicated
movements of the clock's hands: so it
brought exact measurement and
temporal control into every activity, by
setting an independent standard
whereby the whole day could be laid out
and subdivided".
Lewis Mumford
Technics and Human Development
1967
We eat, not when we are hungry, but
when the time is appropriate
We sleep when the clock denotes an
acceptable hour, not when we are
tired and we awaken not when we
are fully rested, but when time
necessitates us to do so
We judge our relative success by
how many hours of our day are filled
with activity.
We judge the measure of our worth
by how much an hour we can charge
and as such, time is a commodity
too valuable to be wasted
We even assess the relative
health of our body, via its
physiological rhythms, with the
second hand of our watches
What is Intelligence?
The Medium-Technology-Culture Relationship
What is the function of air
conditioning?
The Medium-Technology-Culture Relationship
What is the function of the automobile?
The Medium-Technology-Culture Relationship
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First-Order Effects
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Second-Order Effects
Lee Spoull and Sarah Kiesler
New Ways of Working In The Networked
Organization
The Medium-Culture Relationship
“When you add a new technology to a culture you
do not get the old culture with a new technology,
you get the possibility of a transformed culture.”
Neil Postman
Amusing Ourselves To Death
“No More Teflon
We Like It Sticky”
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Medium Function Like Metaphors
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The Form Of A Medium Influences
Message Substance
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The Influence Of Technology On A
Culture Is Always Multi-Functional
Neil Postman,Chair
Culture and Communications
Department
New York University
This I Am Wondering
About…..
“The last sentence in the
chapter, “our metaphors create
the content of our culture, is a
little confusing.”
After all, anyone who has studied the history of
technology knows that technological change is
never neutral. A new technology sometimes
creates more than it destroys. Sometimes, it
destroys more than it creates. But it is never onesided.
Neil Postman
“Informing Ourselves To Death”
Neil Postman
 What
is the problem to which this
technology is a solution?
 If
there is a legitimate
problem here that is solved by
the technology, what other
problems will be created by
my using this technology?
“the greatest danger in times
of turbulence is not the
turbulence -- it is to act with
yesterday's logic.”
Peter Drucker
Management Consultant
"In this class we use the Socratic method. I
call on you, ask you a question and you
answer it. Why don't I just give you a
lecture? Because through my questions
you'll teach yourselves. Through this
method of questions and answers,
questioning and answering we seek to
develop in you the ability to analyze that
vast complex of facts that constitutes the
relationships of members within a given
society. Questions and answers. At times
you may feel you have found the correct
answer, I can assure you this is a complete
delusion on your part.”
You will never find the correct, absolute,
and final answer. In this class there is
always another question to follow your
answer, yes your on a treadmill, my little
questions spin the tumblers of your
mind, your on an operating table, my
little questions are the fingers probing
your brain. We do brain surgery here,
you teach yourself the law, but I train
your mind. You come in here with a
mind full of mush and you leave thinking
like a lawyer."
Media are like synecdoche
(substitute A part for the whole)
Raymond Gozzi
Ithaca College
syn·ec·do·che
syn ec·doch ic (s n k-d k k)
or syn ec·doch i·cal (- -k l) adj.
– A figure of speech in which a part is used
for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole
for a part (as the law for police officer), the
specific for the general (as cutthroat for
assassin), the general for the specific (as
thief for pickpocket), or the material for the
thing made from it (as steel for sword).
Riddle Me This Batman….
What is the “Teflon-Factor”