Second Web Writing Assignment

Vannevar Bush believes that improvements in technological development are the best for society, while Nathaniel Hawthorne believes the opposite. In Bush’s article, As We May Think, he mentions inventions such as the Voder, the Vocoder, and the Memex. Bush says, “ At a recent world fair a machine called Voder was shown. A girl stroked its keys and it emitted recognizable speech. No human vocal cords entered into the procedure at any point; the keys simply combined some electrically produced vibrations and passed these on to a loudspeaker.” Bush goes on to mention that another machine which was like the Voder was shown as well. It was called the Vocoder. Instead of having to type in what you wanted the machine to write, you could speak into a microphone and the keys would do the work for you. I’m sure these machines were new and exciting for the people in that time period. Bush goes on to mention a machine that he names the Memex. Bush describes the Memex as, “a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility.” Bush says that it will simply be a piece of furniture, similar to a desk. He goes on to say that, “On the top are slanting translucent screens, on which material can be projected for convenient reading. There is a keyboard, and sets of buttons and levers.” This extraordinary machine sounds like computers today; however, much bigger and more complicated it seems. As you can see from the machines Bush mentions, he is very much into science and believes that new innovations are the best for society.



On the other end of the spectrum, we have Nathaniel Hawthorne. After reading his article entitled Fire Worship, it seemed that he was a much more traditional man than Bush. Hawthorne believed that science and new inventions were detrimental to society. In his article, he makes use of the example of the wood stove. Hawthorne mentions that it required nearly sixty cords of wood to keep a fire going in a fireplace for a year before wood stoves were being used. This is a lot of wood; he says, “An annual forest was converted from oak logs into ashes.” Before the wood stove, families had to gather around the fireplace to keep warm, and during this time they were able to fellowship and enjoy each other’s company. After the invention of the wood stove, heat could now flow throughout the house and the family did not have to stay close to one another to keep warm. Even though the wood stove required much less wood and heated the home more efficiently, Hawthorne believed that it would be bad from a social standpoint. Hawthorne says, “It is my belief, that social intercourse cannot continue what it has been, now that we have subtracted from it so important and vivifying an element as fire-light.” Hawthorne is afraid that other technological advances will break relationships between family and friends much like the wood stove did.

The two authors clearly have different views on advances in technology. When I think about the internet and the content it contains, it has pros and cons. One good thing about the internet is the convenience factor. On the internet you can send and receive email, check sports scores, weather, stock quotes, and you can even play games. The internet is a great invention and has infinite potential, but is it another “wood stove?” I do not think it has come that far yet, but if the internet continues to become a necessity in our day to day lives, then it very well could hurt us socially. Things online such as chat, and blogs allow people to communicate without ever shaking a hand or speaking face to face. I agree with Bush that technological development is a good thing, and I am looking forward to seeing what type of things are created in the future; however we cannot allow these things to take over our lives in a social context.

As far as creating my blog and blogging in general, I think it is a great to be able to post a thought or idea for anyone and everyone to see. This is the first blogging website I have used, and it was quick and easy to set up and type my first post. After reading both essays from Bush and Hawthorne, I do not think the internet and for that matter blogging can affect our social lives at this time. I think Bush sums up my thoughts when he says, “The applications of science have built man a well-supplied house, and are teaching him to live healthily therein.” We are fortunate to have the internet, and by no means should be getting rid of it. We simply cannot let it take over our social lives, much like the wood stove did by unintentionally making people anti-social.

Bush, Vannevar. "As We May Think." The Atlantic Monthly July 1945 <http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/%7Educhier/pub/vbush/vbush-all.shtml>.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Fire Worship." 1846 <http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/fw.html>.