I Am Not A Luddite. I Am

Make No Mistake About It: The Labeling Of Someone's Language As 'sexist' Involves A Political Judgment And Implies The Desirability Of A Particular Sociological Doctrine. One May Be In Favor Of That Doctrine (as I Believe I Am) But It Is Quite Another Matter To Force Writers By Edicts And Censorship Into Accepting It.

Technology Always Has Unforeseen Consequences, And It Is Not Always Clear, At The Beginning, Who Or What Will Win, And Who Or What Will Lose.

Television Screens Saturated With Commercials Promote The Utopian And Childish Idea That All Problems Have Fast, Simple, And Technological Solutions. You Must Banish From Your Mind The Naive But Commonplace Notion That Commercials Are About Products. They Are About Products In The Same Sense That The Story Of Jonah Is About The Anatomy Of Whales.

Anyone Who Has Studied The History Of Technology Knows That Technological Change Is Always A Faustian Bargain: Technology Giveth And Technology Taketh Away, And Not Always In Equal Measure. A New Technology Sometimes Creates More Than It Destroys. Sometimes, It Destroys More Than It Creates. But It Is Never One-sided. The Invention Of The Printing Press Is An Excellent Example. Printing Fostered The Modern Idea Of Individuality But It Destroyed The Medieval Sense Of Community And Social Integration.

A Book Is An Attempt To Make Through Permanent And To Contribute To The Great Conversation Conducted By Authors Of The Past. […] The Telegraph Is Suited Only To The Flashing Of Messages, Each To Be Quickly Replaced By A More Up-to-date Message. Facts Push Other Facts Into And Then Out Of Consciousness At Speeds That Neither Permit Nor Require Evaluation. (70)