Aldous Huxley is perhaps the only author to have written a work of science fiction and a work of nonfiction to ascertain whether fiction had become reality. Both Brave New World (fiction) and Brave New World Revisited (nonfiction) are discussed and compared with Jacques Ellul’s work on technology.

Roderick Seidenberg, a friend of Lewis Mumford, was an architect with a sociological perspective on technology. He understood that technology had become a system and that it needed to be situated within a historical context to understand its impact on humans. In this article, his work is compared to that of Jacques Ellul.

The movie Brazil calls attention to the relationship between technology and terrorism. Terrorism appears to be a threat to the order that technology creates. But terrorism forces technology to adapt and change so that technology perfects itself as a system. In the movie, terrorism is equated with any form of bureaucratic deviance so that everyone is more or less under suspicion as a terrorist.

The computer is a threat to the intellectual and moral education of students. It reduces words to their most abstract meaning, thereby objectifying meaning. Moreover, the computer promotes logical thought at the expense of dialectical thinking. The computer is behind the proliferation of random information, all of which is at the disposal of the individual user. This fosters a cynical worldview that information is random and exists to be exploited. Finally, the computer turns us into consumers of information that fragments (...) the personality and makes moral responsibility increasingly difficult. It allows for anonymous discourse and substitutes information for judgment. Teachers should resist the use of the mass media—especially the computer and television—as much as possible. (shrink)

The meaning of equality has been radically altered since the Enlightenment. In the 18th century, equality acquired political and economic meanings specifically in the contexts of democracy and capitalism. Today, the context in which equality is understood and practiced is technology as our most immediate and compelling environment. Moreover, the reality of equality contradicts the ideology of equality within this technological context: The ideology of equality as pluralism and cultural and communicative equality is contradicted by the reality of group conformity (...) and group competition on the one hand and uniformity on the other hand. (shrink)

Propaganda in all its forms is the culture of a mass society. The media transmits propaganda to form public opinion and recreate the human being. Reversing the Western ideal of a rational and free individual, the media creates a childish conformist ensconced in the peer group, who acts unconsciously.

The modern university has become a subsystem within the technological system. As such, the university has lost its autonomy. Every aspect of the university— administration, pedagogy, research—has become specialized and technical. Success, power, and efficiency are its only values. An alternative to the modern university is briefly explored.

Technology and magic both represent the human will to power—to dominate nature and ultimately humans. In a technological civilization, magic imitates technology. Modern management often entails psychological techniques (the human relations approach) and organizational techniques (the scientific approach). The heart of the latter is statistical measurement and prediction of the future. This article examines the magical use of statistical measurement and prediction of the future. Magic here operates according to the principle of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Because statistical information is perceived (...) to be related to the success of an organization and is invariably collected in abundance, it is given credit for actual success. (shrink)

If technology is the single most important factor in explaining the organization of modern societies, it is likewise the key to understanding the modern personality. The technological personality is the psychological counterpart to the technological society.Technology indirectly destroys the basis of a common morality and so leaves human relationships vague, insincere, and potentially dangerous. The technological personality possesses a façade of extroverted cheerfulness to conceal and compensate for an inner core of loneliness and fear of others. At the same time (...) the technological personality allows one to internalize technological stimuli, thus creating a shield against certain kinds of stress, it reinforces and deepens loneliness. (shrink)

Modern morality is fundamentally a visual morality. Moral paradigms are embedded in the visual images of the mass media, which have supplanted language as the primary context for moral knowledge. A technological civilization is ultimately one whose only value is that of power. The visual images of the mass media are the “language” of technology; as such, they are about what is (material reality) and what is possible (always a technological possibility). The tension today between what is and what ought (...) to be has been replaced by that between what is and what is possible. (shrink)

Rock music, rap, and heavy metal are all forms of vulgar music. Vulgarity refers to actions and communication that are “common, noisy, and gross,” and are “untranscendent.” A technological society is a vulgar society in its base of materialism and exclusive concern with power. Its excessive rationality produces a need for escape, for ecstasy, for the release of instinctual power. Vulgar music mimics a technological society and provides compensation for its repressive impact.