Science Meditations

Science Meditations


Attention and Technology

January 10, 2019

This episode looks at the effect technology is having on our attention and our thinking by turning to the work of Neil Postman.

Neil Postman was a communications theorist and professor of media studies at New York University who garnered some fame with his 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death. His belief was that it isn’t the content produced by a  particular type of technology that influences our thinking but rather how different technologies change the way we use important words. Words like truth, beauty, freedom, love, and justice.

We also
take a look at the difference between the words Buddha and buddhi. Buddha means awakened one and it refers
to the person we know so well, Sidharth Gautama. Buddhi refers to a type of intelligence of the mind that helps us
discern truth from falsehood.