Week 5: TETRA - Making Sense

After discussing this text, we came to the conclusion that it shared many similarities with the work of Marshall McLuhan as seen prior in this course, and can even be deemed a generalization of the latter. Both of their subjects of research concerns technological innovations and their impact on human behaviour; they both give insight on what has been internalized and embodied through this process and bring this into the spotlight. However, the argument of Simon Penny is more general as it concerns technology in a broader sense rather than simply focusing on media like McLuhan did; perhaps McLuhan would have instigated an even greater revolution if he had approached the subject in the same manner. Still, the questioning that they brought up is as fundamental as it is sometimes overlooked: it allows for a powerful way of rethinking ourselves and our relation with technology.

Penny’s general approach is still somewhat controversial to us. First, he uses a very specific vocabulary which requires a particular background in philosophy when his goal was to offer something for everyone. Consequently, his text is less accessible and less impactful on other fields, which can also be seen as an expression of how other disciplines have an outdated concept of sociology, rooted in Western history. Nevertheless, he is slightly provocative through his unambiguous positions and does not offer much place for nuances on still-debated subjects, in opposition to the modern scientific method. Similarly, he is slightly biased concerning artists in opposition to engineers, suggesting a rigid dichotomy between their respective approaches. He seemingly pushes aside his own stance against dualism and does not even try to bridge the two fields or to explain the origin of their differences, which is critical when discussing the impact of technologies that stem from those same engineers. Still, we can ask ourselves: how can we change the way we understand ourselves as we are surrounded by crystalized skeuomorphic technology?

MC Lariviere, Miha Eftene, Etienne Bolduc, Madison Hunt, Miko Yassa