Harivallabhi Ganapathy's Blog

Questions for Technological Determinism   1.       What is the impact of writing invention on social changes by breaking through the limits of oral culture? The impact of writing inventions on social changes did break through the limits of oral culture. Some writing inventions allowed easier access to knowledge to many people. It made it easier for people not to hold information in their heads and say it allowed but rather write it down in a document, for example. For some societies, like in Western Europe, they benefitted more from writing but others like Africa did not.   2.       How does gunpowder weaponry allows Islamic states to control vast territory in history? Gunpowder- based artilleries allowed Islamic States to have greater military might. Since they adopted gunpowder – based weaponry, earlier on, they had the advantage on the battlefield as this allowed them to conquer more land. 3.    ...

1. What is mediation? How do digital technologies illustrate mediation in modern social, political, and economical life? Mediation is the increasing presence of media in all aspects of life. In terms of digital technology, such as a computer illustrates mediation in modern social life as we use media to communicate with people close to us or in another country. A mobile phone, a form of digital technology, can also illustrate mediation in modern political life as you can use media such as the news to know what is currently happening in politics. For modern economic life, a computer can be used to track your expenses on an Excel sheet which can illustrate mediation. Through these examples, digital technologies will always illustrate the presence of media in all aspects of life.  2. What are “new media” and “old media”? How do they compare with “digital media” and “analog media”? How does the emerging of “new media” transform the society each time in the history? “New media” is t...