Category Archives: society

Neil Postman on Technology and Society

Tony Reinke has posted a lecture given by the late Neil Postman on Technology and Society. As far as I can make out, this is Postman’s lecture entitled “Questioning the Media” from Calvin College’s January Series lectures, delivered on 12 January 1998, though the video has a different datestamp.

I’ve only ever read Postman’s books before, so it was interesting to see and hear him lecture, and well worthwhile. I’ve always enjoyed his books, and learned a good deal from them. It turns out he was as good at lecturing as writing. His attempt at buying a Honda Accord towards the end of chunk 2 is very amusing (but not to death!). I found his analysis of the effect of technology on education and teachers that straddles chunks 3 and 4 particularly insightful, and still pertinent in the twenty-first century.

Here’s the whole thing as a playlist from the 7 chunks of the video.