Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in an Age of Machines

by Steve Talbott

Book Overview

"Self-forgetfulness is the reigning temptation of the technological era. This is why we so readily give our assent to the absurd proposition that a computer can add two plus two, despite the obvious fact that it can do nothing of the sort--not if we have in mind anything remotely resembling what we do when we add numbers. In the computer's case, the mechanics of addition involve no motivation, no consciousness of the task, no mobilization of the will,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0596526806
• ISBN13: 9780596526801
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 281 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A book to get hard-core empiricists thinking more critically

The fundamental premise of this book is that the soul and its intuitive life cannot be accessed through programs of efficiency or schemes of mechanistic imitation. Jack London's cry "Man is born to live not to exist." seem appropos here. Living is an art as Aristotle would say, not a function or adjustment, or any other kind of action derived from posterior analysis. The soul, to use the language of Kant, is fundamentally a-priori--a-priori to all of our actions as a sort of womb out of which we grow and then transform into our larger selves. I think Talbott assaults the wrong target in his diatribe against computers, which is a little like the argument of gun control activists, i.e., guns not people kill people. Computers are tools and when used by men armed with the tools of the soul (the virtues) then they remain tools. When men and women without virtue use tools, they abuse them and degrade themselves in the process. Curiously, Talbot doesn't talk a great deal about the soul, he doesn't talk about the five traditional Aristotelian powers of the soul: Movement, intellection, volition, growth and the sensitive power, which relates to sight and hearing. He also speaks little about virtue--the excellence of a soul in balance. What he does do in the first quarter of the book is show by example that the soul is there, hidden yet powerful and his depiction of this is masterful. I would recommend How to Manage Your Destructive Impulses with Cyber-Kinetics [ASIN:1580083501 How to Manage Your D.I.C.K: Redirect Sexual Energy and Discover Your More Spiritually Enlightened, Evolved Self]] as a follow up book to Devices of the Soul. One thing is sure: this book is part of the great restoration of classical consciousness that will be a hallmark of the new Millennium. The recovery of the soul and the cultivation of its real devices--the virtues and the sacraments of Roman Catholicism would do much to restore Western civilization.

OVER-SOUL DEVICES!!

Do you believe that fundamental change must be rooted in a transformation of the individual self? If you do, then this book is for you. Author Steve Talbott, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that challenges you to step back and take an objective look at the technology that is driving your life today. Talbott, begins by looking at how technical devices have played a positive role in essential human transformation, and how today, in a kind of reversal, they can lull you toward unconsciousness. Then, the author juxtaposes certain tendencies of technology-based thinking, with the inner world and outer exploits of a blind man, with the experience of a Down Syndrome family, and with life in a community for the mentally handicapped. Next, he considers the natural world as an educational resource, and then follows a master teacher as she observes, often in horror, the actual use of computers in classrooms around the country. The author also offers a set of intentional provocations as a stimulus for discussion in schools. He continues by drawing some perhaps unexpected conclusions from baby walkers, video games, and sexual content on the Internet. Finally, the author shows you how the enthronement of information, as the distilled essence of educational content may render superfluous not only the university and teachers, but also students--and, in the final resort, knowledge itself. The dangers the author tries to illuminate in this most excellent book arise, above all, when technology fulfills one's fondest expectations. Perhaps more importantly though, as you wield these tools, the resulting factor will be the mechanization of the entire society.