Chapter II
Technology and (un)reality
Today, in western societies, our general expectations of the
technology we create and use go further than entertainment, leisure or
comfort, as we are increasingly eager to be free from work or from engaging
in any ‘unnecessary’ effort as much as we chase immortality. These are not
new and original desires, of course, but they are more apparent and present
nowadays than at any other time since the advent of modernity. However,
there are grounds for questioning the modern myth that technology will set
us free. Indeed, the fear is that technology will make us slaves (literally or
metaphorically) of our own creations. In this sense, we can observe the social
consequences of technology in two well differentiated stages of technology
through two influential films, Metropolis (Lang, 1927), which shows the
potential effect of mechanical production in society, and The Matrix, which
illustrates the hypothetical repercussions of digital reproduction.
From the beginning of modernity there has been a belief in continuous
technological evolution and the production of a powerful technoscientist
human being, stronger and wiser than ever before in the history of human
kind. However, this belief clashes with reality. The reality is that the
individual is often impotent when facing and understanding technology. For
most of us technology becomes similar to magic when we try to understand
its mechanisms or endeavour to fix one of the machines we use daily. This
inability to comprehend the devices that we use in many aspects of our lives
is at odds with our feeling of superiority when using machines: the illusory
control over technological functions is uncovered when it becomes apparent
that we are completely illiterate in the use of 0s and 1s and strangers to the
cables and metal components of our computers. The potential dangers of
technology are hidden in this paradox.
The impact of technology on society is not only possible to establish in
marginal moments and locations such as virtual experiences or ‘visits’ to the
Cyberspace, but is experienced in the context of extended systems, affecting
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