Against Internet Utopias

“‘Whether or not it draws on scientific research, technology is a branch of moral philosophy, not science,’ wrote the anarchic Paul Goodman in The New Reformation, Notes from a Neolithic Conservative, meaning that technology isn’t self-justifying simply because it may solve a scientific or technical problem, it must be examined within the context of what it does for us and how we use it. In other words, the statement that ‘a good watch is a watch that tells the time well’ only has meaning in a society where timing is everything, where we have ritualized and sanctified time keeping. In this context, it is time to stop thinking about the Internet as a kind of liberation theology.”