Technological Utopia or Technological Dystopia?

This week in E-learning and Digital Cultures we have asked to watch as series of films and to consider whether technology creates a utopian or dystopian vision of society.  The short films all in some way portray both the negative and positive affects of technology on our daily lives and interactions with each other. However, some weigh in a little more firmly on the issue.

The first film Bendito Machine III presents probably the most clear cut dystopian view.

In this film we see the instant obsolescence that technology presents us.  The always progressing nature that alters what we believe in and causes us to devote ourselves to objects that we will soon throw away as soon as the next thing comes along.  The film transitions us from radio to TV to the Internet to a satellite (?).  The people's response to each type of technology is similar and the technologies cannot co-exist in this film.

The next film, Inbox, gives the clearest utopian vision. 

Here we see how technology can bring strangers together and how technology can help us to form connections. 

In this portrayal, technology is a tool that humans use to connect to one another, rather than technology being a god to worship and reign over us.

The third film, Thursday, provides a more nuanced picture of technology as having both utopian and dystopian properties.

In this film we see how our lives are a series of experiences involving technological devices.  The grids of our cities mirror the grids of a processor.  The interaction of the birds with each other and the birds with the humans provides us with a nice juxtaposition of themes.  And one character's humanity is displayed when he see the hurt bird.  It seems that the only time the characters experience peace is when they are removed from technology and can view society from a distance.

The final (and shortest) film provides the most bleak view.  New Media provides haunting images of a city abandoned by human life that is now taken over by technological debris and tentacle like cables.

http://vimeo.com/moli/newmedia

The title causes one to wonder what is "new" about this media?  New in that it has supplanted human life?  New in that it seems to construct itself?

Our assignment also asked us to reflect on utopian or dystopian representation of technology that we have seen in a popular film.  Last weekend I saw Terminator II  for the first time.  While overall, the movie's message is one that technology will lead to a dystopian future where the machines will turn against humans.  However, we see in Arnold Schwarzenegger's character a glimpse of a more utopian vision, where the machine can be reprogrammed to help humanity and to ultimately sacrifice himself for all of humankind.