Digital technology goes back to well before the modern era. It basically involves the use of a special language–a system of signs that combine together to convey information. Technically, a book is a form of digital technology. Today, most people use the term “digital” to refer to computer technology, which uses a binary language of 1s and 0s. The modern computer has changed the world in ways both positive and negative.
Alienation from Nature
- From a certain point of view, digital technology is merely the next logical step in a long process that has seen mankind lose touch with the natural world. Critics fear that this alienation has been both the cause of unhealthy mental habits and neurosis in individuals, as well as the cause of environmentally destructive habits in society at large.
Loss of Originality
- The critic Walter Benjamin famously described art in the 20th century as having lost its aura. Works of art were now being mass-produced by machines and originality was less important. Digital technology has taken this process even farther than Benjamin imagined, making the reproduction of digital artwork (such as a music or movie file) unlimited. Critics claim that this cheapens art and makes it harder for a creator to benefit from his or her originality.
Anarchy
- Digital technology has proven to be a very destabilizing force where it has been introduced. Older hierarchies in business and politics have already been disrupted by computers and the Internet. Digital technology is inherently difficult to police and as the world becomes more digital, it will also become more lawless and out of control. Critics point to the breakdown of copyright law as an example.
Digital Divide
- As computers and other digital tools become more important, the difference between those who have digital technology and those who don’t becomes more dangerous. Many critics point to a “digital divide” which increases the differences already existing between the rich and the poor. Bringing access to digital technology for the world’s poor is a developing problem in the new modern world.
Computers as Nature
- From one point of view, computers are as much a creation of the natural world as trees or the rain. This is because human beings are a product of the natural world. It stands to reason that anything human beings create will be as much a part of the natural world as they are. Understanding the digital in this way shows the promise and danger of technology, as nature can be both cruel and kind.
