> THE REAL MILLENNIUM BUG
>
> Langdon Winner (winner@rpi.edu)
>
> TECH KNOWLEDGE REVUE 1.2
> September 9, 1998
>
The approach of the new century offers an occasion to ponder the condition
of humanity and of the planet that sustains us. How many of the world's
nearly six billion people live well or in circumstances that are even
marginally agreeable? How many still suffer poverty, war, disease,
illiteracy, and the other scourges of our species? Will the policies of
global civilization merely magnify well-known ecological, economic, and
social ills? Or will the next century find ingenious remedies?
Alas, as the symbolic stroke of midnight speeds toward us, the opportunity
to rethink the situation of humankind and renew our sense of purpose is
rapidly being frittered away. When people hear about the year 2000 these
days, the first thing that springs to mind is the computer glitch that
threatens to disrupt computer systems and send our institutions careening
toward chaos. Because programmers in earlier decades economized on space
by cleverly dropping two digits, we are now obsessed with the problem and
the costly challenge of minimizing its possible damage.
Yes, the Y2K troubles are real. But there's a pungent irony here. Our
society has become so slavish in its dependence upon digital equipment that
it seems unwilling to face squarely the health of the planet and humanity's
future. To my way of thinking, this is the real millennium "bug," the
urgent "Year 2000 Problem" that our systems planners, corporate elites, and
political leaders have overlooked in recent years.
One indicator underscores how grave this deficiency has become. At a time
in which most societies around the world have committed themselves to
technology as the one true path to improvement, the common understanding of
what "technology" means and what it includes is now rapidly shrinking.
Not too long ago "technology" referred to the whole range of tools,
techniques and systems people use to achieve practical ends. This
definition arose during the nineteenth century, replacing earlier, more
limited definitions. While the concept was overly broad, it was far richer
than the one gaining prominence today, the notion that "technology" is just
information technology, nothing else. Other kinds of instruments, methods,
technical arrangements, and devices are grouped under more specialized
rubrics. Social issues, both promising developments and gnawing problems,
that involve the broader range of technical means, are fading as matters
for public attention and debate.
This warped view of technical matters first gained prominence on Wall
Street, where the category "technology stocks" has taken on a particular
significance. The technology stocks are, of course, shares in computing,
digital communications, Internet services, and the like. When one hears
that "technology" is soaring or sinking on the stock exchange, one knows
that we're talking about Microsoft, Dell Computer, Lucent Technologies,
Netscape, Seagate, Sun Microsystems, America Online, Cisco Systems, and the
like. In this context, the term no longer refers to automobiles, airlines,
chemicals, agriculture, or anything of the sort. The word "information"
has been dropped as a modifier, leaving "technology" as a pure, seemingly
self-evident label.
This innocuous linguistic convenience for busy stock traders has now
spread, infecting contemporary journalism and everyday speech, signaling a
narrowing of awareness and care. Oddly enough, this constriction of focus
happens at a time in which, to all appearances, there is an explosion in
sources of news coverage on "technology," hundreds of magazines,
newspapers, paperback books, television programs, and on-line sources
filled with stories about people's involvement with technical things. For
serious technology watchers, this would seem to be a godsend. But if one
looks closely at the content of this burgeoning news coverage, the vast
bulk of it is limited solely to the computer industry and the Net. What
first appears to be a wealth of useful information conceals a profound
poverty of outlook.
Within today's "technology" beat, the press typically follows stories of
just two kinds. First are reports on the activities of business firms in
the computer and communications field -- the latest deals, mergers,
acquisitions, new product introductions, and strategies of corporate movers
and shakers. News of this sort used to be confined to the pages of
*Business Week*, *Fortune*, and the financial section of your local
newspaper. But under the rubric of "technology" the machinations of CEOs,
managers, and lawyers in the information corporations have now been
elevated to a status and glamor not unlike that attached to sports heroes
and rock stars. Will Bill Gates stave off the Justice Department? Will
Steven Jobs stay on at Apple? Will the leaders of Bell Atlantic and GTE
bring off their corporate marriage? Apparently, the reading public has an
endless appetite for stories of this kind.
Also favored in this approach are reports about digital hemlines -- late-
breaking fashion trends in the design, marketing, and consumption of
computer hardware and software. Which new gadgets does Silicon Valley have
in store for us this season? How much computing power will I need to run
the next-generation programs? Should I buy the latest Windows upgrade?
What colorful services and diversions can be found on the World Wide Web?
People who follow rapidly changing info-styles now find a great torrent of
chatter about such matters in both print and pixel.
Commitment to this approach seems all but universal. The "Technology
Alert" from the *Wall Street Journal* that arrives in my email each day is
never about anything other than computer and communications firms. If one
turns to the on-line version of the *New York Times* and clicks on
"technology," dozens of articles about the computer biz and digital
hemlines begin scrolling by. Much the same holds for the hundreds of
newspapers and magazines that print the latest gossip from the Internet
grapevine. Day by day, the dull uniformity of it all raises the question:
items from the *Times'* predictable stream:
* "Oracle Announces Online Challenge to Microsoft"
* "Web Erotica Aims for Female Customers"
* "Braindump on the Blue Badge: A Guide to Microspeak"
* "Flat Screens: Good But Costly"
* "Videoconferencing Stage Fright"
* "PC's for the High End Crowd"
* "Putting A Virtual Doggy in Your Window"
* "Hurricane Watchers Clog Web Sites"
* "Gossip Sites Target Music and Film Business"
Of course, the mood and outlook of such stories in the *Times* and
elsewhere is strictly "upside," often totally euphoric, Viagra for the
mind. In both the giddy writing and glitzy neo-neon illustrations, the
model for "technology" journalism in this mode is, of course, *Wired*
magazine. The recent sale of that publication to Conde Nast, publishers of
*Vogue*, confirmed what many of us had suspected all along, that the
magazine was less a serious discussion of the transition to a digital
society than a never ending barrage of excited promotions for ephemeral
electronic products and the personalities who hawk them. Now that *Wired*
is owned by those adept at selling cosmetics and couture, its role is at
last thoroughly transparent. What's remarkable is that so many supposedly
respectable publications have decided to mimic the tawdry self-indulgence
that has become the hallmark of cyber journalism.
An obvious shortcoming of this odd focus for reporting and thinking is the
vast spectrum of interesting and important topics it systematically
neglects. If one is interested in solar electricity, for example, the
second fastest-growing energy source in the world, one can read for years
and never find it in today's "technology" coverage. Although the
biotechnically driven "second Green Revolution" will likely affect billions
of people in years to come, its arrival goes all but unnoticed. If one is
interested in the rapidly evolving techniques of flexible production in
global factories and offices, don't bother looking in the local newspaper
or its on-line edition; from all indications, "technology" doesn't include
such things anymore. How about the ecological disasters caused by
"advances" in the technologies of fishing and acquaculture? What? Where?
When? Why wasn't I informed?
An illustration of a significant piece of news that has gone all but
unnoticed amidst the hoopla of American "technology" coverage is the raging
controversy about the introduction of genetically modified food in Great
Britain. One study by British scientists, reported recently by BBC and the
*Guardian*, found that rats fed genetically engineered potatoes suffered
stunted growth and weakened immune systems. Whether or not the study turns
out to be reliable, concerns about it and about genetically modified food
have sparked citizen protest and disputes among the political parties in
Parliament. While you can be sure that the emerging biotechnology firms
around the world are closely watching this flap and its possible
ramifications, the American reading public is kept in the dark, nourished
by hundreds of Olestra-rich puff pieces about Internet fun and frolic.
Perhaps aware of the growing vapidity of today's techno-news reporting,
some prominent publications have recently decided they need a larger theme,
a Big Picture within which to frame their topics. The startlingly brash,
unprecedented, and illuminating context many of them appear to have settled
upon is "Innovation." Yes, folks, here it comes! Out of the research
labs, into the hands of entrepreneurs, from there to the global
marketplace, and into your lives -- technology! What matters in this
perspective is simply an appreciation of the dynamic flow and process.
Never mind the social contexts, broader consequences, or policy choices at
hand. Behold the surprisingly colorful people engaged in cutting-edge
university and corporate research (and you thought they were just cold and
grey!). Follow those far-sighted venture capitalists as they seed the
landscape with promising start-up companies. Be the first on your block
to catch a glimpse of all the gadgets and new media that will shape the
offices, homes and schools of the future.
Given the long history of campaigns to promote technologies of one kind or
another in this century, it's amusing that anybody would find this emphasis
on "innovation" the least bit novel. In one guise or another, this idea
has been the bread and butter of industrialists, advertisers and reporters
for eighty years. Ideas and images celebrating innovation were already
current in visions of modernity of the 1920s when automobiles and
electrical appliances (rather then Palm Pilots) were all the rage. From
its very first issue, Henry Luce's *Fortune* magazine (1930) regaled
readers with high-tone stories and photographs depicting links between
emerging technology, business initiatives, and social transformation. Then
as now, the arrow of causation always pointed in one direction. As the
motto of the International Exposition held in Chicago in 1933 boldly
proclaimed, "Science Finds -- Industry Applies -- Man Conforms."
As we receive our daily dose of this threadbare mythology, updated for the
age of cyberspace, the problem is not merely that the scope of reporting on
technology and human affairs is dwindling. Resourceful readers can always
search out diverse, substantive sources of news and information
As we receive our daily dose of this threadbare mythology, updated for the
age of cyberspace, the problem is not merely that the scope of reporting on
technology and human affairs is dwindling. Resourceful readers can always
search out diverse, substantive sources of news and information about all
kinds of technology-related events. The far more urgent problem lies in
the fact that, at a crucial moment in human history, public discourse about
matters of consequence has been reduced in its outlook, trivialized in its
grasp. Since people's awareness of what matters is strongly influenced by
what news sources highlight as current and noteworthy, the shrinking
perspective of technology journalism is a serious loss.
Among the issues that cry out for attention as a new era dawns is the
widening gap of inequality that characterizes the world's population. Our
much heralded global economy has been very good at producing a handful of
billionaires and millionaires. But for roughly a third of the Earth's
people, especially children in the less developed countries, grinding
poverty is an everyday reality, a situation already evident even before the
economic crises of the past year. Can it be that we find the suffering of
hundreds of millions of our fellow human beings insignificant when compared
to the puzzle of finding a Y2K fix?
While we're at it, why not tackle some of the "bugs" that threaten the
environment we will hand to our children? How about fixing the
technologies that spew millions of tons of CO2 into the air each day,
exacerbating global warming? How about replacing the systems that pour
toxic chemicals into the air, water and land, slowly poisoning human
populations and other species? Let's eliminate the errors in our tax laws
that encourage energy waste and other ecologically destructive practices.
And let's fix the development bug that destroys good farmland and
devastates the world's forests. These are among the steps that would be
taken by those hopeful about Earth's future.
I'm told that if all goes well, if enough time, money, and effort are
invested, our computers will actually remember that a new millennium has
arrived. Alas, we humans may forget to update our spiritual clocks,
ignoring a momentous turning point and the challenge it presents.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tech Knowledge Revue is produced at the Chatham Center for Advanced Study,
P.O. Box 215, North Chatham, NY 12132. Langdon Winner can be reached at:
winner@rpi.edu and at his Web page: http://www.rpi.edu/~winner .
Copyright Langdon Winner 1998. Distributed as part of NETFUTURE:
http://www.oreilly.com/~stevet/netfuture/. You may redistribute this
article for noncommercial purposes, with this notice attached.
PhD student
Faculty of Communication
University of Canberra
http://student.canberra.edu.au/~u833885/home.htm