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In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations
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In his critically acclaimed Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, author and social critic Jerry Mander proclaimed that television, by its fundamental nature, is dangerous—to personal health and sanity, to the environment, and to the democratic process. With In the Absence of the Sacred, he goes beyond television to critique our technological society as a whole.
In this provocative work, Mander challenges the utopian promise of technological society and tracks its devastating impact on native cultures worldwide. The Western world’s loss of a sense of the sacred in the natural world, he says, has led us toward global environmental disaster and social disorder—and worse lies ahead. Yet models for restoring our relationship with the Earth exist in the cultures of native peoples, whose values and skills have enabled them to survive centuries of invasion and exploitation.
Far from creating paradise on Earth, technology has instead produced an unsustainable contest for resources. Mander surveys the major technologies shaping the “new world order”—computers, telecommunications, space exploration, genetic engineering, robotics, and the corporation itself—and warns that they are merging into a global mega-technology, with dire environmental and political results.
In this provocative work, Mander challenges the utopian promise of technological society and tracks its devastating impact on native cultures worldwide. The Western world’s loss of a sense of the sacred in the natural world, he says, has led us toward global environmental disaster and social disorder—and worse lies ahead. Yet models for restoring our relationship with the Earth exist in the cultures of native peoples, whose values and skills have enabled them to survive centuries of invasion and exploitation.
Far from creating paradise on Earth, technology has instead produced an unsustainable contest for resources. Mander surveys the major technologies shaping the “new world order”—computers, telecommunications, space exploration, genetic engineering, robotics, and the corporation itself—and warns that they are merging into a global mega-technology, with dire environmental and political results.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS:
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 970.00497
EAN: 9780871565099
ISBN: 0871565099
Label: Sierra Club Books
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 458
Publication Date: 1992-08-11
Publisher: Sierra Club Books
Studio: Sierra Club Books
SIMILAR ITEMS:
• Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
• The Case Against the Global Economy: And for Local Self-reliance
• My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization
• High-Tech Heretic: Reflections of a Computer Contrarian
• Telecommunications: An Introduction to Electronic Media
CUSTOMER REVIEWS:
In the Absence of the Sacred -
So far, I have found this book to be extremely educational and informative. It has helped me look at our current world of technology in a different light. Technology might not always be what it is cracked up to be.
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The Technological Juggernaut against the "Indians Shmindians" and Us All - Get FREE prescription medicine - If your medicine is listed here you can get it free.
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This 446-page book consists of 20 chapters in four parts sandwiched between a crispy introduction and a reflective epilogue. In the introduction the author tells of his intention to write two separate books. One book was to deal with the "technical-political web of unprecedented negative implications" (p. 4) of technology. The other book was to update the thesis of Brown's classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which apparently left a wrong impression of history, especially that the Indians and their problems are past "romance". In practice Indians are still here among us, and many are "suffering varying degrees of impacts from the expansion of Western technological society" (p. 5) - the technological juggernaut.
The first part of the book deals with life-altering technology, and more so its alarming speed. The chapters in this section motivate the need to mobilize resources to counter the negative effects of technology. Part II of the book outlines the emergence of a "megatechnology", a web made up of things like computers, television, satellites, corporations, generics, nanotechnologies and robotics. The kind of technology is not good for human in general and Indians specifically. And so the following chapters in Part III focus on the impact of technology on the Indians. The argument there is that native peoples provide the only real opposition to the techno-juggernaut. Consequently Indians are far more likely victims in the battles that ensue that other people.
The fourth part, entitled "The World War against the Indians" is demanding reading and predicts a firm stand as the following excerpt indicates:
"Upon the ultimate outcome of this battle will depend whether a living alternative world view, rooted in an ancient connection with the Earth, can continue to express what is insane and suicidal about the Western technological project" (p. 263).
This passage sounds rather pessimistic, but the author returns to the same from a different angle in the Epilogue. The material in this section has ends that hang rather loose, but the idea that new technologies are dangerously interlocked, and that these technologies use the cover of the "market economy" to propagate themselves, that idea is still evident. However, the last few paragraphs of the epilogue emerge hastily like a diver our of breath after a long stay under water. Many read more like a pitch for the author's causes listed in the appendix of the book. Perhaps Jerry Mander (author) should be excused for he is after all an advertising agent, although of a public interest kind.
The economist in me is kicking restlessly, but overall "In the Absence of the Sacred" is a good book: informative, and an excellent reminder that there are many sides to every issue - in this case the issue is technology and its varied impacts on Indians and us all.
Amavilah, Author
Modeling Income Determinants in Embedded Economies : Cross-section Applications to US Native American Economies
ISBN: 1600210465
Why the Problem in the Middle East? -
Without question, Mr. Mander's book is powerful. There is little doubt that Euro-American culture and many "modern" societies are the victims of an artificial reality swallowed up in a "Megatechnocracy." If you wonder why, other cultures, in particular Iraq, Iran and many Moslem countries, don't want America's value system, read this book. Clearly, this country, America, is a destroyer of cultures, especially in the hands of the modern conservatives in Washington. The coming cultural/social conflicts of the future will largely center around a war of cultural values and it is going to be a global tragedy in the end. America respresents only a fraction of a world population; the world does have some other ideas about the humanity of the future without American technology and technical arrogance. Look out George W. Bush. You ain't seen nothing yet!
Good, if disjointed. -
Mander was working on two books, one on the negative effects of technology on our culture, and the other of the continued exploitation of native cultures in the U.S. and around the world. He says that, somewhere along the line, he realized that these two issues were one in the same. IN THE ABSENCE OF THE SACRED is the result.
The scope of this book is incredibly ambitious. It reads like a wandering survey of many of the most important issues that face our globe. I agree with much of what Mander says. A lot of it I disagree with. And a fair amount of it seems tangential and unrelated. To cover everything would take a book in itself. But here are some of the highlights.
On Technology and Corporations
Mander's view on technology is that we should be skeptical of it. Technology is presented to us in a biased manner; namely, by the people who want to sell it to us. True. But he suggests that technology should not be viewed as neutral, but guilty until proven innocent. He says that the only way to balance current "technology worship" is to view it negatively. I disagree. Technology has many negative aspects -- a devaluation of people, an increase in environmental hazards, an increase in psychological disorders related to the overuse of television and computers, to name a few -- but it also has positive effects, most notably in the field of medicine and person-to-person connectivity.
Mander lists several reasons, mostly potential but unrealized dangers, to be skeptical of computers. Some make sense. For instance, using computers in warfare dehumanizes the effort. We are not killing people, merely blips on the screen. But some of his arguments against computers are ludicrous. For instance, he cites that computerized radar systems often mistake birds for enemy aircraft, as if this proves that technology has a negative impact. He is confusing the precision of our technology with the concept of technology itself. It's like arguing that because some books have typos that books in general are bad.
There is a considerable amount of space devoted to the evils of television, the negative effects of the consolidation of the media, and the psychological ills television can create. While again Mander makes a few dubious assessments, overall his arguments against television are pretty solid.
Mander also makes an important point about the nature of public corporations: profit is the top motive. Always. So to think that a corporation will act in an altruistic manner, or in the interest of the environment alone when it is not in alignment with the profit motive is naïve. This is key when it comes to environmental issues or issues involving native cultures.
On The Indian Nations
The second half of the book is an overview of the dire situation many native cultures find themselves in. It is sickening to read about the continued exploitation of Native Americans by the U.S. government and U.S. corporations with very little, and typically mis-represented coverage by the media. In general, Native Americans hold lands with valuable mining, timber, and other resources (even those tribes that have been run off to the most useless, remote corners of nowhere find their lands now sought precisely because it is in the most remote corner of nowhere -- so the government can test weapons on it). The typical modus operandi is that the government creates a committee "representing" native "interests." They then offer the tribe money for land that the U.S. has "wrongfully taken" from the tribe. This is in effect a purchase of the land. If the tribe accepts the monetary reward, they lose rights to the land. If they refuse, the money typically goes into an account for the tribe and the government takes the land anyway. Meanwhile, the committee "representing" the tribe works to iron out the deal with the government while most of the tribe shows their disapproval in the common Indian way-by dissociating themselves with the process. It is a difference in cultures. To outsiders, it seems like they are abstaining from voting, but to them, that is how they show their disproval. Thus, the only people involved are the minority that favor giving over their lands.
Mander gives a whirlwind around-the-globe tour of oppressed indigenous people and discusses the various ways and degrees to which these ancient cultures are persecuted and misrepresented in many parts of the globe. It is shameful to read, and surprising to hear how big of an issue it continues to be, since we rarely hear of it in the mainstream media.
Like I said before, I agree with much of what Mander says. His environmentalism, skepticism of corporations and technology, and concern for native cultures are all important issues that should be discussed. But I have three major criticisms with how Mander presents his argument:
A) He makes statements that he fails to adequately back up with factual information. He does this most often in his arguments against technology, making blanket statements that couldn't possibly be proven. Among other things, he correctly argues that television centralizes power, but also argues that the Internet does the same thing. This book was published in 1991, so whatever Mander says about the Internet is prediction (an inaccurate one, in this case) and he had to know that at the time.
B) The book feels like two different books: one a critique of our technologically-driven society, and an great, but not completely relevant, overview of the predicament of native cultures. Rather than summarizing the plight of indigenous cultures around the world, it would make more sense to focus on what the native cultures understand that we don't and what we can learn from their stewardship of the Earth.
C) Mander offers little in the way of solution. He recognizes this, saying that this is the most common criticism of his arguments. But recognizing it doesn't mean you don't have to address it. To think that someone would read 400 pages outlining some of the planet's most important problems and not look to the author for a hint of a solution seems odd. And while this book is a good overview of the problems we face, I would think there is a better wrap-up than the rather obvious statement that we must "do something." Mander provides us a list of organizations whose aims align with his, but how about some concrete examples of what we can do? Not just individually, but as a movement. What should our strategy be? Paul Hawken, in his ECOLOGY OF COMMERCE, does a much better job at describing the change in attitudes that must take place to make progress.
Overall, this is a great book for the myriad of issues it raises. And what the arguments lack in cohesiveness, they make up for in scope. Though a little dated, this book is a good starting place for anyone interesting in environmentalism, the plight of native cultures, or both.
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The `Neo-Luddite' position, as it has been called, the view that evils of modern technology vastly outweigh the benefits, that technology is leading us in a destructive direction, that the benefits of technology are greatly over-hyped and over-sold, that our attitude and approach toward technology and new technological `advances' is at best naïve, at worst suicidal, and long overdue for re-evaluation, is argued pervasively in this important book.
My caveat here is that one engages a most depressing read - yet, this statement cries out, long and hard, and, inevitably, is one which must be heard by all who claim to call earth home. Unfortunately, as I write, it is now fifteen years since publication of this towering, tormented masterpiece, which I rate with Walden, Sand County Almanac, Silent Spring, and few others. Characteristically, the world, less a modicum of its population, has not even given it a sideways look, has not read the book, has largely (virtually) ignored it. Why? Do we, at the root cause, read solely or primarily to justify or enhance arguments for our own, pre-established beliefs?
The common line of denial/dismissal goes approximately: "You drive a car. You use a computer. If you tree-huggers were to really walk your talk - you'd be back living in caves, eating grass and roots." The claim is that the argument to question the value and nature of our existing technology in a broadly based, open forum, to restrict by rule of law, if necessary, the further growth of technology, and to establish strict and unremitting, publicly adjudicated, criteria for new applications of technology is unrealistic and foolish.
Mander begins by recounting the history of the argument, "The economics of continued technological growth on a finite planet, came into question. And `appropriate technology' became the catch-term for new low-impact technology that operated on decentralized, small-scale principles: solar energy versus nuclear energy, diverse intensive farming versus agribusiness, steady-state economics versus economic growth . . . So careful were we not to be thought too radical that we rarely exposed the real problem: a system of logic, and a set of assumptions, that led to the problems . . . And at each stage of technical development, we fell more deeply into the techno-maelstorm." Mander then turns to a restatement of his signal observations of the effects of mass T.V. watching ". . . our minds were being channeled and simplified to match the channeled and simplified physical environment - suburbs, malls, freeways, high-rise buildings . . . Television was engaging all of humanity in similar thought patterns, similar experiences, similar imagery, and a similar context of reality, which was poisonous to diversity of culture." All of which, the children of the Age of McDonaldsization are blithely unaware.
Mander further delineates the difficulty: "Saying no to a technology, any technology, was (and still is) beyond us. Virtually unthinkable. It does not even occur to most of us that we have the right our ability to turn back a whole technology. No precedent our support exists for it in our culture . . . In a truly democratic society, any new technology would be subject to exhaustive debate." Here, we confront the seemingly universal impasse for implementation of progressive values. They are always contingent on some sort of consensual agreement, which, in turn, is contingent on opportunities for consensual discussion. In post 9/11 America, how accessible are such opportunities?
We ought to be grateful to Mander at the least for locating the issues within an appropriate ideological venue for discussion.
In the section entitled, The Madness of the Astronaut (can we not but help recall Clarke's 2001?), Mander points to "the arrogance of Technological Man, the technopioneers assume they are authorized to go anywhere and rearrange anything, including alterations in the structure of human life, animal life, and now natural form itself. In doing so, they are acting in service to the fundamental principle that has informed technical evolution in the modern era: If it can be done, do it. There are no boundaries, no rules, no sets of standards by which to moderate these activities. No sense of right or wrong, no taboos; there's only what will succeed in the marketplace." We are only beginning to experience the consequences.
The second part of the book focuses on the fate of societies who dare, usually by dictates of tradition and ancestral memory, to opt out of living inside a machine with the rest of us and follow alternative, wiser paths.
Eloquent, essential.
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