The Sublimation of Old Technology

The telegraph was used to relay messages; electrification was used to light up the night; the telephone was used as a two-way communicator; the radio was used to entertain, educate, advertise and more through your ears, and the television was the radio for your eyes. What do all of these means of communication have in common? They were supposed to end “history, geography, and politics”. In, “When Old Myths Were New: The Ever Ending Story” by Vincent Mosco, Mosco’s idea is that these brilliant inventions were part of an informational or communicative technology revolution of their era. When these new inventions were introduced, they are seen as “magical” or the greatest that the world has ever seen. They are seen as connecting people together. Of course, one after another after another, a new medium is discovered to change our viewpoints and opinions on anything imaginable. These new technologies not only change our beliefs, but we adapt to the lifestyle and the communities it provides us. Mosco’s viewpoint is often that we take for granted and move onto the next big thing. He often uses the word “sublime” which means that it has a high intellectual value to imply how humanity felt about these new technologies at that time. When hearing sublime, I often think of “sublimation”: the change from a solid to a gas. Like these new technologies, they start off as a solid: equipped to stand for a better world. When something better comes along, they disappear, like a gas, yet are still there in spirit (and scientifically, still atomically there). Today’s new technology is the Internet, but more specific, the World Wide Web. People are able to blog about anything they want, creating more content for people to read, understand and formulate a viewpoint. Facebook, a website for social networking, has recently been changing politics in Egypt. If one website can help structure a protest of 85,000 people, what’s next?