In
a topic-driven, well-developed paragraph, explain the CONNECTION between Ulrich’s
“Panopticon” drawing (with the accompanying Wikipedia entry) and the researched
opinions we have read and summarized about technology. In your paragraph
response, use summary, paraphrase, and quotations—from each source.
NOTE: After posting on the blog, open up the CANVAS assignment (by the same name) and DO copy and paste the URL address into the CANVAS "WEB URL" text box so that I have record of your submission on Canvas. Thanks.
Do you control technology or does it control you? Ulrich’s “Panopticon” drawing paints a mental image inferring that we all sit in literal different places, but all take in the same information from whatever source. The picture advocates the idea that sources can lead to more knowledgeable growth than the surface image. This goes in line with other experts’
ReplyDeleteopinions in that sources such as books and technology can lead to personal intelligence, but too much dependence can lead to the ‘overdose’ on technology. For example, in Sherry Turkle’s New York Times essay titled “The Flight From Conversation,” she states how “…we get used to being shortchanged on conversation and to getting by with less, we seem almost willing to dispense with people altogether.” The ‘OD’ on technology refers to the state where it could be potentially doing more bad than good, which is a horrifying possibility.
The Panopticon is a building built in the late 18th century that allowed a watchman to watch the inmates without the inmates knowing that they are being watched. This idea of secrecy and control is found in Carr's book, The Shallows. Technology is secretly watching their viewers and making sure that they get attached to the different forms of technology. so many people are falling for the trap that, "...we're so quick to attribute human characteristics to our computers and computer characteristics to ourselves." Technology is controlling our behavior to act and think like technology just like the inmates in the Panopticon are controlling their behavior because they don't know if they are being watched.
ReplyDeleteOne of the scariest things about technology is the fact that as we put our personal information on the internet we have no idea who is looking at our pages. This panopticon theory originated from the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham. At the same time people enjoy using the internet to hide their identity and create the life they want. Johnathan Franzen states, in a New York Times article, “Our lives look a lot more interesting when they’re filtered through the sexy Facebook interface” (3).
ReplyDeleteThe English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham, during the late 18th century, came up with the first measures to form a disciplined public image of an individual. As Bentham describes it, the "Panopticon" is a circular perimeter with a control center from where a manager or a leader can look at the employees' without their knowledge. Bentham essentially made his "inmates" open to public observations. This panoptical culture prompted by the present technology is the point of apparent opposition between ideas of Bentham and Nicholas Carr. While Bentham believes in revealing an individual's identity and activities to "discipline" him; Carr posses a strong rejection to the idea that "'the affairs of citizens are best guided and conducted by experts'" (152). Carr wants the people to search for their answers and solve their problems on their own because an angry tweet or a frustrated Google search will be answered by a 'set of algorithms' and not by a thinking mind.
ReplyDeleteIn the picture Ulrich’s “Panopticon”, it is am image of someone seeing everything, but others not being able to see you. They used to do this so the people in the cells couldn’t see who was watching them, but had to behave at all times incase they were being watched. In the article, Bentham described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example." This relates to the articles and books about technology that we’ve been reading, because many people use technology as a way to have power. In Franzen’s article he talks about how people will hide behind their Facebook pages and say things they normally would not say to you in person. These two relate to each other in that kind of way.
ReplyDeleteToday people are allowed to create whatever kind of life they want on the Internet. There are some consequences though because virtually anyone can see what you publish. This is what “Panopticon” is stating in his article. Franzen talks about this idea a little bit when he talks by saying, “But to expose your whole self, not just the likeable surface, and to have it rejected, can be catastrophically painful”. He states this because he knows what the Internet has done to us and he knows the consequences of that.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Bentham, an English Philosopher designed a penitentiary structure called a Panopticon, which essentially allows one watchman to be able to keep his eye on every inmate without the inmates knowing that they are being watched. This is very similar to the way Carr describes the internet’s effects on the Human brain. Carr writes,” Whether I’m online or not, my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.” Regardless of whether Carr wants to accept the fact that the internet is changing him, he realizes that his brain has started to function the way that the internet wants him to. This relates with the idea of a Panopticon because the internet is the watchman and Carr, and every other human being using the Web, are the inmates. Even when we don’t know, the internet is shaping our minds to do what “it” wants us to do. Maybe not what to do, but how to do.
ReplyDeleteA Panopticon is a building structure developed in the late 18th century where all inmates are able to be watched over from one persons view. In Ulrich's Panopticon there are inmates locked up and some free, those who are free are on computers but those who are locked up are not. I believe the connection between this picture and the opinions of the sources we have read is that technology is controlling maybe even like a prison that we get wrapped up into and it's hard to escape it's grasp. Carr talks about the distraction of clicking link after link while working on a computer, one could also view this distraction as a endless trap that entangles our attention. I believe that this is the main problem with technology for our generation and if we don't know how to put down the electronics and "escape we may be in trouble.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 18th century a structure called The Panopticon was built. This allowed every inmate to be watched over all at the same time. Ulrich's panopticon showed watchmen behind computers watching the inmates, the inmates not knowing they were being watched.This is similar to the works we've studied so far. We constantly connect to our devices to the Internet putting personal information on social media. Not really realizing that other people are watching, and yet we still try to make our life's look "perfect".
ReplyDeleteSocial theorist Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon was a structure designed in the 1800's to keep inmates constantly controlling their behavior. Inmates were all in cells surrounding an "inspection house". The watchman was able to watch each inmate without the inmate knowing, forcing them to always behave as if they are being observed. However, such a structure was never built; many people criticized it for being an "...inhumane approach to human lives". But doesn't this seem eerily similar to the Internet? Everything you do on the web is subject to being tracked and monitored. Once something is on the Internet, it is virtually public domain. You may think it's private, but it's not. You have no idea who is viewing your information. So why is Panopticon looked down upon but the Internet is praised? Experts such as Sherry Turkle believe that it is because our generation is becoming accustomed to the idea of being the center of attention, even if we have no clue who the audience is. We like to keep ourselves physically alone, but be constantly watched through our virtual lives, such as social media. Turkle states, "we can't get enough of one another if we can use technology to keep one another at distances we can control..." (The Flight From Conversation). The only problem is, we aren't as in control as many believe; you can't always choose how close someone gets to you through the Internet. So the more we expose ourselves "privately" on the web, the more we expose ourselves to the constant watch others, including others that we might not even know are watching.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 18th century, Jeremy Bentham, an English professor stirred this idea of the Panopticon. As seen in the picture illustrated by Ulrich there is an eye seeing all, however the ones being watched can't see them. This idea was first implemented in jails enforcing good behavior because the inmates did not know when they were being watched or not. In Carr's book "The Shallows" he referenced Google and how they are watching us without us even knowing. Every site we visit is tracked and noted, then maybe the next day you will see an ad on a website for the exact thing that you looked for yesterday. The internet is becoming more scarier then we will know it. The question is, when will we know when the internet is tracking us? and how?
ReplyDeleteEnglish writer of the 18th century Jeremy Bentham, created the idea of a Panopticon which is a form of structure within a jail used to implement positive behavior between inmates, it was almost set as an example experiment to see how the minds and behavior of the inmates would change over time through the means of a Panopticon. In Nicholas Carrs "The Shallows" Carr states on multiple occasions in his writing how the use of technology in such a way people neglect to realize. The similarity between Carr and Benthem is the connectivity of human thought process is perceived when surrounding change, the surrounding of the inmates changing by physical structure and the structure of search engines on the internet recording every bit of data searched. The idea of confidentiality being hindered is seen in both areas of a jail and in the Internet is someone really always watching?
ReplyDelete