Asri-unix.661 net.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:C70:sri-unix!JPM@SU-AI Sat Jan 30 23:23:52 1982 Technologists vs Humanists First, apoligies to everyone on SPACE for discussing what is probably not an appropiate topic for this list. But since the subject came up... Saying technology is more important than the humanities is stupid, since technology, the APPLICATION of scientific knowledge, has to be directed by social goals determined by the study of the humanities (and social "sciences"). However, saying humanities is more important than technology is equally stupid, since man is, above all else, a TECHNOLOGICAL animal. Our use of tools, more than anything else, has contributed to our current state of civilization. Trying to understand Man without his tools (please, no comments on sexist language!) is a fruitless endevour that will ultimately lead to failure. One problem we face is that there are significant numbers of people who believe that technology, in and of itself, can solve all problems. This is wrong, since those very problems CANNOT be defined or specified by a strict examination of technological alternatives (although some constraints as to what is physically possible can be supplied by technology) - one MUST appeal to the knowledge lodged in the study of Man, the humanities. Another problem we face is the presence of a large number of people who believe that Man's tools and his tool making capacity should be ignored when examining the proper role of our race in the universal scheme of things. One cannot make ANY decisions about what Man should do or should become without examining how Man interacts with the physical Universe - and this is the domain of Science and Technology. Frankly, I have no doubts that there are far more people causing the second problem than the first. At least most technologists believe that they SHOULD be aware of the Humanities, while many poeple in the Humanities feel no obligation to understand the first principles of Science and Technology. So while we need more people knowledgable in both areas, the lack of technological understanding among the people studying the Humanities seems to be the most severe problem we are currently facing. Jim ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.