Wow, Who Knew We Were Living in a Technopoly? I Suppose it Happens, Though...

Technopoly. It's an interesting word to think about. It combines Techno- (as in technology) with -opoly (as in economic or political system). However, most everyone who read the chapter "From Technocracy to Technopoly" didn't ponder the word; they just read on, to hear what the teacher, the author, the giver of absolute information had to say on it. Essentially, for everyone too conditioned (Psst, think Brave New World) to ponder on their own, a technocracy is "the idea that if something could be done it should be done... A profound belief in the principls through which invention succeeds: objectivity, efficiency, expertise, standardization, measurement and progress" (Postman 42). According to the article, it arose from a technocracy, where technology, instead of society's center, was one large bubble of focus amongst other, shrinking bubbles, where "the citizens knew that science and technology did not provide philosophies by which to live" (47).
The article makes clear that the technopololitical movement likely began with Fredrick Winslow Taylor. Taylor claimed that by reducing human judgement in industrial processes, that particular process would see wages and profits rise. People then extended this to contain all of society, allowing particular experts or ideas to lead them in each sector: what's healthy? Ask an expert; how did we get here? follow either religious of scientific leaders; how do we live our lives? follow the experts, the technology, the efficiency to find the answer. Within Brave New World, the technopoly had completely popped the bubble of the opposing worldviews and beliefs; the society was built on serving the machine as parent, government, and God. Everyone was engineered to ruthless efficiency, mass produced to serve the society, and drugged to aviod "human" feeling. This was portayed in a negative light, for efficiency strangles creativity, expression, and individuality. Interestingly, technocracy's success led to individuality, creativity, and expression; however, this was only because it was more convenient for the factory. Ray Kurzweil proclaimed that one day, man will become machine, eliminate death and disease, and possibly humanity. This shows that, not only will man come to serve machine as parent, God, and government, it will become it. The society on Earth will become a well oiled machine, grinding and grinding to no end. In fact, the only and utter downfall is that it provides no meaning to human life; sure, those within said society won't care, but in the end, there is othing being worked towards, no accomplishment being found.
The reason why I described different viewpoints as bubbles is because bubbles are only air, veiled in a milky guise. Each one looks slightly different, but is composed of the same stuff. Yet, when they pop, there is nothing; the residue floats down. There is no conception of what ultimate reality really looks like, because all humanity sees is the bubble and its colors, from the firey red of religion to the cold steel gray of machines to whatever society chooses to center itself upon, with little thought to what makes the metaphorical air within and outside the bubble, and the nature of the bubble's surroundings. This is why all of humanity's efforts to find a societal center, from survivng of the fittest, to God, to efficiency are futile and critcized: they are all inherently flawed because they cannot pose the ultimate reality and purpose to human society (oh, that's what 1984 for was all about! I think the curriculum is starting to make sense!). Will we ever pop the bubbles, and look around? Probably not, we will just continue to blow new ones. However, the call to action is, therefore, to always be ready with a needle, to try to puncture all of the hot air blown. Although this will lead to little observable "progress," it will prevent society from being ruled by totalitarian machines, governments, Gods, or any new idea we come up with.