Vicente’s vs. Vonnegut’s Views on Technology

Vicente’s vs. Vonnegut’s Views on Technology
Sara Waldron
2/11/09

A variety of different thoughts, feelings, and ideas could run through a person’s head when it comes to the topic of technology. Technology is something that is constantly changing our world and constantly improving over time. Although many great things have come from technology, some still believe that it isn’t necessarily a good thing. Kim Vicente and Kurt Vonnegut write their own stories to express their own thoughts, feelings, and idea about technology. Kim Vicente’s “The Human Factor” provides a good amount of factual information on technology, and the downfalls that have come along with it. She states very negative things about technology and provides examples of why technology should be thought about more efficiently. In doing so, she hopes that she will open the minds of the reader to see the true outcomes of technology. Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” also amplies his readers to view technology in a different point of view, however, he does this through story telling. It almost seems like Vonnegut wants his readers to actually think about the use of technology and come up with their own conclusions verses just having factual information, as Vicente did. Both writers have good intentions in triggering the readers brains about technology, and provide good details that indicate their personal views about technology itself.
“Technology is the system by which a society provides its members with those things needed or desired” (Vicente: 20). A very interesting way to express the meaning of technology, yet a somewhat very negative way to think of technology. Vicente’s views of technology is in a negative stand point. I believe that the more the reader picks apart Vicente’s story, the more they will understand her intensions of going about it the way she does. Vicente provides many areas in the field of technology that have put a downfall towards the lives of many people. As an example, she first starts off with the safety of technology.
“The six hundred people unlucky enough to be working at the plan that evening received very high doses of radiation and many later suffered lingering or fatal disease. The 116,000 people who were evecuated form the neighboring farms and town received lower but still significant doses of radiation (Vicente:12).
Clearly, the safety of others was put at risk due to a failure of technology in which caused a hurrendous explosion to occur, and cause illness and death for many innocent individuals. Vicente also the quality of technology . “In the end, most people will get out of the car and check the oil the oldfashioned way because they can’t remember the steps and can’t be bothered to read the counterintuitive instructions again” (Vicente: 15). In thinking about one of the ideal purposes of technology, many people love it because it makes our lives easier. If the technological invention isn’t easy for a human quickly then the good majority of the people will just look for a different easy way out. Vicente continuously uses examples such as these all through out “The Human Factor” to pin point key elements of her beliefs towards technology.
Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” seems to present thoughts about technology in a different way. Vonnegut’s story attacks the reader’s thoughts about technology by using a story of a man’s life and his personal experiences involving technology that are presented all throughout his life. Vonnegut’s story also uses analogies, hence the title “Cat’s Cradle,” to help the reader and the characters in the book really gain a better conscienceness of what technology means to our world.
“What’s that from?” I asked. “What could it possibly be from but The Books of Bokonon?” “I’d love to see a copy sometime.” “Copies are hard to come by,” said Castle. “They aren’t printed. They’re made by hand. And, of course, there is no such thing as a completed copy, since Bokonon is adding things every day.” Little Newt snorted. “Religion!” “Beg your pardon?” Castle said. “See the cat?” asked Newt. “See the Cradle?”
Using this analogy, Vonnegut is trying to engage in the reader and characters’ minds to understand the meaning of cat’s cradle. This may not seem to pertain to anything about technology; however, Vonnegut’s intensions for using analogies are good and they do pertain to technology in some way, shape, or form.
“Her husband is mean as hell to her,” said Newt. He showed us that he hated Angela’s handsome young husband, the extremely successful Harrison C. Conners, President of Fabri Tek. “He hardly ever comes home—and, when he does, he’s drunk and generally covered with lipstick.”
“From the way she talked,” I said, “I thought it was a very happy marriage.”
Little Newt held his hands six inches apart and he spread his fingers. “See the cat? See the cradle?” (Vonnegut: 179).
This quote also uses the cat’s cradle analogy to trigger the reader and characters’ brains in thinking about technology. Vonnegut’s strategy here is genius. Very much different from Vicente’s approach, Vonnegut uses life experience in comparison to technology to get his point across of his views on technology.
In breaking it down, the understanding of the cat’s cradle analogy is simple. I believe that the so called “cat” will always be the noun that is being used in the analogy. So, in the examples, Angela and the followers of religion are the “cats” Then, the “cradle” can be known to be the “comfort zone” of the given noun. The cradle for Angela would be her rich husband because he gives her a lot of things, and the cradle for the followers of the religion is the religion itself. This is where the comparison comes in. Vonnegut uses these analogies and compares them to what technology provides to us. If you think about it, technology is, to many people, the “cradle” of the world. Technology, like Angela’s husband, provides us with good things, even if we aren’t fully content with those good things. Technology also gives us something to look forward to and believe in, often like a religion to its followers. Technology causes people to have to think and analyze information to provide bigger and better things to the world, and this is why Vonnegut uses his approach, of story telling and personal experiences throughout his novel, to build a better mindset to his readers about technology.
Both Vicente and Vonnegut had good strategies to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas on technology. Vicente’s good use of details and factual information helped form a bigger and better picture of the downfalls of technology throughout the world. She helped her readers understand her views about technology and that technology isn’t as beneficial to the world as many individuals may have thought. Vonnegut, using a different approach, also gets through to his readers, through stories and experiences, which allowed the readers to built their own thoughts and ideas about technology. In doing so, it eventually opened a new door to their thoughts and allowed a connection to Vonnegut’s own thoughts on technology. Both authors thought of technology in a somewhat negative way, but in fact really allowed the readers to wake up to the idea of technology and really see that it’s becoming a bigger issue than many realized.