Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman - ISBN 0140094385 - Pengouin 1986

book
http://books.google.com/books?id=ID&pg=PA

Motivation

Reading yet another time the comics on Orwell/Huxley and how the later was right despite not appearing as gloomy as the former then discovering the Seedea:Content/Newconcepts#InformationActionRatio concept.

Pre-reading model

Draw a schema (using PmGraphViz or another solution) of the situation of the area in the studied domain before having read the book.

Reading

  • 1 The mediums is the metaphor
  • 2 Media as epistemology
  • 3 Typographic America
  • 4 The typographic mind
  • 5 The peek-a-boo world
  • 6 The age of show business
  • 7 "Now--this"
    • see News and discussion with Simon during a summer at his place on how one would make his own news journal
  • 8 Shuffle off to Bethlehem
  • 9 Reach out and elect someone
    • mention of the specific role of the media counselor, probably requiring an efficient OwnConcepts#gToM too
    • one is not constructing an image for the audience but rather of the audience
      • a compelling image of themselves
  • 10 Teaching as an amusing activity
    • quotes of Dewey on collateral learning
    • the importance of games, to go with the classical Latin quote panem et circenses
  • 11 The Huxleyan warning
    • mention of computer technology and that, once again, the important question about the social impact are hardly ever asked
    • metaphor of doors closing and how through learning (but even through reflexes like other animals) we instantly know that something wrong is going on
    • mention of Huxley's own warning on the epistemology of media

Key concepts

  • information/action ratio

See also

Overall remarks and questions

  • several mention of the Global Village and in general McLuhan's work
  • if epistemology depends on the media, is there also a selection of key work dependent of the medium of the time?
    • consequently is epistemology itself linked (or even slave of) media technology evolution?

Synthesis

So in the end, it was about X and was based on Y.

Critics

Point A, B and C are debatable because of e, f and j.

Vocabulary

(:new_vocabulary_start:) new_word (:new_vocabulary_end:)

Post-reading model

Draw a schema (using PmGraphViz or another solution) of the situation of the area in the studied domain after having read the book. Link it to the pre-reading model and align the two to help easy comparison.

Categories

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