College Lecture Series - Neil Postman - "The Surrender of Culture to Technology" on HackerTube: recommended by 5 Hacker News commenters across 5 separate months, 2014–2025.
lecture · evergreen
Neil Postman's 1997 lecture at College of DuPage, based on his book, argues that Americans treat technology as a national religion and depend on it to solve larger human problems. It includes audience questions.
HN recommends it to engineers as a skeptical counterweight to technology boosterism, especially for those building AI and consumer tech features.
“I suggest the people working on those features watch Neil Postman's "The Surrender of Culture to Technology"”
5 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
I suggest the people working on those features watch Neil Postman's "The Surrender of Culture to Technology": ▶ this video Part of me is actually excited for the acceleration of the end of the web, I even wrote [link] few days ago in frustration. The sooner it ends the better. I really don't want to see "summarization" tokens of other people's tokens.
in “Chrome's New AI Features” · View on HN
Yes, likewise. We have no smart devices, no TV in the house, no cameras or smart doorbells or Internet enabled appliances. People are always disoriented when they visit because there is no TV and no Echo-like device on the kitchen counter. Here's Neil Postman on using technology to solve problems that no one has, linked to start at 20:03: ▶ this video
in “Like privacy? Then smart devices are a dumb idea” · View on HN
a bit off topic, but if you enjoy questioning the value of technology and the impact on our society, check out Neil Postman's "The Surrender of Culture to Technology" ▶ this video
in “Ted Kaczynski's Manifesto [pdf]” · View on HN
> Not necessarily more smarts, but better tech means more affordable connectivity and education, and better education too. This is not true. Neil Postman has something to say about this, already in 1996, in "The Surrender of Culture to Technology". It specifically mentions education and how the "wiring up to the information super highway" was misguided. ▶ this video It is very interesting in reading/watching Maciej, Neil Postman and also Evgeny Morozov to put things in perspective.
in “The Moral Economy of Tech” · View on HN
There's a related video from a March, 1997 lecture, in which Postman discusses the questions. Though I agree with much of what he says, I also feel he suffered from a bit of failure of imagination in conceiving of what the possible utility of information might be. ▶ this video Two bits, both in the Q&A, particularly stand out. First: the observation that as the hoi polloi are told they need to acquire technical skills, the ruling class retains its power by learning how to speak and write effectively. Second: "I feel very strongly about this: what is distracting us from solving some of the problems that you mention is a kind of a world view that's being promoted now by computer technology, that the main reason we have problems in the world is that we have insufficient information. If only we could get more information, easier to access, and get it faster, then we can solve this problem, or any of the others you mention. And I think this is an awesome conceit, and a terrible mis-judgement. Look, if there are children starving anyplace, it's not because we have insufficient information. if there's crime rampant in the streets in New York, Detroit, and Chicago, it's not because we have insufficient information. If the ozone layer is being depleted and the rainforest is disappearing, it's not because we have insufficient information. And if you can't get along with your own relatives, it's not because you have insufficient information. But we have come to believe that that is the sourc
in “Neil Postman: Things We Need to Know About Technological Change (1998) [pdf]” · View on HN