Many who work in science and technology still maintain faith in progress, the universal claims of their operations, and the independent status of the phenomena they work with. They can point to an impressive record of ideas tested by methods of verification that approach objectivity, and to new knowledge, understanding, investigative tools, and new technologies that have transformed life in almost every corner of the earth. In the fields of theoretical and applied sciences, there is optimism very different from the skepticism that marks deconstructive thought. Scientists believe they can refine theory and make universally valid discoveries, and technologists believe they can create technologies that better human life and transform culture in positive ways.
The role of computers and information technologies is one area in which the views of cultural critics and scientists diverge. Many critical theorists emphasize the insidious nature of pervasive, smoothly functioning information technologies that control and promote superficial thought and life.
The former CEO of Apple Computer, described a related vision of the technologically enabled future in the book Interactive Multimedia: Imagine a classroom with a window on all the world’s knowledge. Imagine a teacher with the capability to bring to life any image, any sound, any event. Imagine a student with the power to visit any place on earth at any time in history. Imagine a screen that can display in vivid color the inner workings of a cell, the births, and deaths of stars. And then imagine that you have access to all of this and more by exerting little more effort than simply asking that it appear. They are the tools of a near tomorrow and, like the printing press, they will empower individuals, unlock worlds of knowledge, and forge a new community of ideas.
Those who work in any number of emerging technologies would describe the probable implications of their work in similar terms. Conferences, trade shows, and journals burn with intellectual foment, excitement, and eagerness to invent the future. The scientific research agendas described in the following chapters are full of optimism and methodological self-assurance. Do these scientists and technologists live in the same world as the culture analysts? The discordance between the worldviews of culture theoreticians and those who work with new technologies may be essential for understanding the contemporary era in a unified cross disciplinary way. One conceptualization is that each group lacks information.
It is also possible that the interpretative tone of culture theorists stems from their experience of being acted upon by new technologies, while the optimism of scientists and technologists reflects their engagement in the processes of imagining, inventing, developing, and enabling the new technologies. Artists who work with emerging technologies face a dilemma: they stand with feet in both worlds.