Benefits or Drawbacks?

Virilio claims in his essay “Indirect Light” that “videoscopy seems to come into its own with this role of indirectly lighting a domestic environment for which electric light, a direct form of analogous daylight, is no longer sufficient” (1). Vilirio is commenting on how surveillance cameras and live presentations of a place cause “cinematic representation” to be obsolete (2). He feels that the changes in technologies are leading to an era that will cause human intelligence to be obsolete. He mentions how the washing machine was described as a “washing-computer,” and the next innovation in transportation will be a “driving-computer” that allows the “audiovisual feats of the electronic dashboard to prevail over the optical qualities of the field beyond the widescreen” (15). These examples show how Virilio feels about the changes in technology, and how these changes will cause an insufficiency in human behavior. People no longer need to think in order to drive or wash their clothes.

Personally, I feel the changes in technology can be viewed as both positive and negative aspects of our society. On the one hand, our society has this dependency on technology that can only get worse. People cannot revert back to not having cars, telephones, computers, etc. These advancements have also enhanced the lives of human beings by decreasing the amount of time it takes to do tasks. Virilio’s idea of a “driving-computer” is also beginning to take shape. Now-a-days people have GPS systems that allow them to locate exactly where they are and where there are any road hazards. This decreases the amount of time one is on the road. They are less likely to get lost or get stuck in traffic. Yet, has this technology really decreased human intelligence and creativity? Calculators allow people to get through school without having to know the multiplication table. Yet, this does not stifle human creativity. Through the internet, people are able to easily share their videos and photographs with one another.