Monday, February 5, 2007

In the Presence of Things Part I

Posting the pics of our trip to Montana put me into a different frame of mind. I think about David Strong’s book Crazy Mountains: Learning from Wilderness to Weigh Technology and how deftly he captures his sense of wildness and the place of mountains in his life and philosophy. Strong himself was influenced by his teacher, Henry Bugbee, whose book The Inward Morning remains, in my mind, one of the most elegant and evocative works on man and wilderness ever published. Bugbee’s is a lyrical philosophy that continues to captivate me. I have not written about wilderness in awhile, but think about its claims on me constantly. Why am I so drawn to it, and why do I se an invitation to explore while others see forbidding ruggedness, or worse, a desire to dominate and bring nature under control? I think also about the claim that wilderness makes on me as well, and how often I struggle to articulate that claim. It is I think the essential conflict between those of us who advocate for environmental preservation and restraint and those with a more exploitative approach. In the end, it is our language that fails us. The pro usage lobby has a sophisticated argument for opening roadless wilderness, mountaintop removal, and clear cutting. They speak in a language everyone can understand: jobs, money, returns on investment, and greater consumption. It is logical and empirical. This positivist discourse is the dominant voice in our environmental decision making, and though I dislike it, I understand its appeal. The language of domination has been with us so long, it is of no surprise that alternative voices would sound so alien to our ears. We seek absolute knowledge and rigorous scientific or economic arguments to inform our choices about wilderness, and to be sure, science and technology deliver. Understanding modern discourse requires an archeological expedition that can dig through past centuries of discourse and arrive at an understanding of the will to dominate and the language in which it is so effectively couched.

Masters and Possessors

The modern project was constructed on the crumbling remains of the medieval epoch, a project championed by some of the greatest minds of the Western tradition: Francis Bacon, Renee Descartes, and John Locke. As philosopher Albert Borgmann points out, their works

"…are pleas as much as proclamations. They plead for a new order and derive much energy from their indictment of medieval disorder, the duress of daily life, the deadwood of tradition, and the oppression of hierarchy and community. (Borgmann, CPD 23)"

At the forefront of this new world was the triumph of science. For Bacon, misery, toil, sickness, and suffering was an “insufferable scandal that was to be overcome through the domination of nature” (Borgmann, CPD 23). Thus, whatever human needs were to be met would come via the subjugation of nature.
Descartes exalted the dawn of a new era in human history deeply rooted in method of “irresistible cogency,” which would contribute an understandable order to the universe, as well as provide a method by which all problems great and small could be scrutinized, reduced, and finally solved. Like Bacon, Descartes took dead aim at nature as something we must dominate and shape to fit our needs. He writes in Discourse on Method,

"But as soon as I had acquired some general notions respecting physics, and beginning to make trial of them in various particular difficulties, had observed how far they can carry us, and how much they differ from the principles that have been employed up to the present time…For by them I perceived it to be possible to arrive at knowledge highly useful in life; and in place of the speculative philosophy usually taught in the schools, to discover a practical philosophy, by means of which, knowing the force and action of fire, water, air, the stars, the heavens, and all the other bodies that surround us, just as distinctly as we know the various skills of our craftsmen, we might be able, in the same way, to use them for all the purposes for which they are appropriate, and thus render ourselves, as it were, masters and possessors of nature. (Descartes 35)"

Thus, science will make us the “masters and possessors of nature.” Philosophy would be practical and seek empirical truth that could be applied to the science of domination--happiness and the good life are to be achieved not by cultivating a relationship to nature, but by securing our dominance over it. And if the primacy of method and the dominance of science would reshape the world, then Locke would create the new man for that world.
Traditionally the individual for better or worse was subject to communal authority. With the old medieval order thoroughly shattered, Locke sought to recast man as the prime entity apart from society. In fact, society for Locke could only exist by means of a social contract arising from a collective agreement of individuals, but as Borgmann points out, “this contract remains subservient to the individual” (Borgmann, CPD 38). Therefore, communities would nevertheless exist, as they had existed for centuries before, but with one key difference; the individual, not the collective ideal, would hold the primal position in the relationship. If Bacon and Descartes’ philosophies would disburden us of toil and make us the masters of nature, Locke would see to it that nothing would be held sacred above the wants and desires of the individual.
This preeminence of the individual combined with the subjugation and reordering of the natural world is what Borgmann defines as modern technology. Therefore, technology is not just electronic devices and powerful machinery, but is instead a distinct way in which modern culture takes up with the world. Modern discourse on politics, economics, and the general well being of the citizenry is conducted using the unstated premise that all great gifts come from the rise of technology. As such, the technological state and the actions of the government and citizenry hinge on an underlying adherence to the attitudes affixed to modern technology that Borgmann points out--a technological narrative from which personal and community narratives are derived.
Thus, the technological narrative, that is the background of knowledge and understanding that orients us toward the world is based on the dominance of empirical knowledge, the lust for commodities, the preeminence of economic values above abstract values such as wildness and beauty, the gratification of the individual over communitarian values, and the belief that freedom, prosperity, and happiness are all a function of the rise of technology.

A Deeper Look at the Nature and Promise of Modern Technology

The promise of technology is that it will liberate humanity “from disease, hunger, and toil,” and furthermore, as Borgmann points out, it will enrich our lives with “learning, art, and athletics” (Borgmann, TCCL I 36). Surely we cannot find anything disagreeable in assuaging suffering or encouraging learning, but as Borgmann notes, the fundamental drive behind the promise of technology is the will to dominate nature. The rise of science in the modern period, and its application in the production of technologically advanced machinery in the industrial revolution, was the fruition of the dream of men like Descartes who foresaw the “invention of an infinity of devices to enable us to enjoy the fruits of agriculture and all the wealth of the earth without labor” (Descartes 35).
We view the earth not as something to live in synch with, but is instead something we may now set upon and from which we extract what we will. This setting upon is what Martin Heidegger refers to as “enframing”, a condition wherein the earth is seen as merely a standing reserve of resource for our projects. Furthermore, technology makes those resources available to us with little effort. Albert Borgmann writes,

"As a first step let us note that the notions of liberation and enrichment are joined in that of availability. Goods that are available to us enrich our lives and, it they are technologically available, they do so without imposing burdens on us. Something is available to us in this sense if it has been rendered instantaneous, ubiquitous, safe, and easy. (Borgmann, TCCL 41)"

Borgmann is providing us with a very clear notion of the nature of modern technology. Its goal of disburdening and enriching us is based on the will to dominate nature, and bring it under control such that it can be made to suit our needs. As such, nature becomes viewed as a resource to be set upon, a standing reserve of materials to provide us with a revolutionary number of goods for our welfare and enjoyment. Technology also ensures that the wealth of the earth embodied in a plethora of goods will be made available to us without imposing burdens. It is this last facet of technology that I want to deal with next, for as we will see, disburdenment is the key to understanding the effect of technology on modern culture. To see the impact of disburdenment though, I want to first explore the modern manifestation of the promise of technology inherent in what Albert Borgmann calls the device paradigm.

Borgmann’s Device Paradigm

As we have seen thus far, technology promises to disburden and enrich us by dominating nature and using it as a resource for a plethora of goods. To see this technological framework in relief, I want to look at an example of how technology has disburdened us and changed our relationship to the world. To do this, I will use Borgmann’s example of the contrast between a wood burning stove and a modern central heating plant. In describing the stove he writes,

"It was a focus, a hearth, a place that gathered the work and leisure of a family and gave the house a center. Its coldness marked the morning, and the spreading of its warmth the beginning of the day. It assigned to the different family members tasks that defined their place in the household. The mother built the fire, the children kept the firebox filled, and the father cut the fire wood. It provided for the entire family a regular and bodily engagement with the rhythm of the seasons that was woven together of the threat of cold and the solace of warmth, the smell of wood smoke, the exertion of sawing and of carrying, the teaching of skills, and the fidelity to daily tasks. (Borgmann, TCCL 42)"

Borgmann locates in the pre-technological wood stove a great deal of engagements. To be sure, many of these such as chopping wood are indeed toils that many are happy to be without. However, the important point is that we recognize how the stove engages us with the world, and most importantly, that to receive its benefits (warmth) requires of us a great deal of skill and effort.
On the contrary, technological devices make commodities available to us with little or no effort. Of devices Borgmann writes,

We have seen that a thing such as a fireplace provides warmth, but it inevitably provides those many other elements that compose the world of the fireplace. We are inclined to think of these additional elements as burdensome [i.e. Chopping wood, tending the fire], and they were undoubtedly often so experienced. A device such as a central heating plant procures mere warmth and disburdens us of all other elements. These are taken over by the machinery of the device. The machinery makes no demands on our skill, strength, or attention…(Borgmann, TCCL 42)

Therefore, the devices separate means from ends because the means to produce a commodity are taken over by the machinery of the device with little input or concern on our part. For us, warmth is merely a matter of flipping a switch, and demands no effort beyond that. Thus, technology makes available to us a wealth of commodities. In this case, heat is the commodity provided via the machinery of the device free of “the encumbrance of or engagement with a context” (Borgmann, TCCL 47). Therefore, consumption is to “use up an isolated entity without preparation, resonance, and consequence” (Borgmann, TCCL 51). With this notion of consumption in mind I want to now turn our attention to the role of consumption in modern culture and how as a function of the technological narrative it has drastically altered our environment, communities, and sense of self.

The Rise of Consumerism

Jane Smiley argues that the rise of consumerism comes as a result of the convergence of heavy labor requirements placed on women by their respective households, and the lack of a “class of workers” to carry out the tasks. She writes,

"The fact is that nineteenth century domestic life in America was not for the faint of heart. By all measures of well-being that we consider normal today, women and children in the North and West were heavily taxed and profoundly burdened by a dearth of population, vast distances, and overwhelming labor. (Smiley 160)"

Women spent the better part of their days engaged in heavy labor, with little or no time for other things. Furthermore, there did not exist a population of workers large enough to alleviate this toil. It is for this reason that Smiley says of inventions such as the cotton gin, the steam engine, the sewing machine, and other great developments of the industrial revolution,

"…these grand American inventions were the children of the same necessity that gives us the antique, fascinating, and sometimes mysterious domestic gadgets we find in attics and museums…All these gadgets were designed to be savers of time, or enablers of a woman’s doing two things at once. (Smiley 161)"

Smiley’s argument mirrors the argument made thus far by Borgmann that technology and consumerism have contributed greatly in assuaging suffering and toil. What’s more, in doing so, technology has given us a new promise of freedom due to the dearth of choices it has made available to us and greater leisure time to enjoy them. Smiley is essentially articulating the manifestation of the promise of technology.
To be sure, Smiley’s observation is indeed an important one in recognizing the value of modern technology, but though she locates the reason for the rise of technology and consumption, she gives little attention to the resulting problem in modern culture which is over-consumption. As such, I want to now draw out three important results of over-consumption. The first is an ecological problem, as our lust for consumption places ever greater demands on natural resources. The second issue at hand is the effect that consumption as a way of life has on our communities, and the final issue I want to look at will be the effect of consumption on our sense of self.

The Ecological Threat of Over Consumption

As I have already stated, the technological narrative has at its core the will to dominate nature and bring it under control for our own use. Therefore, over-consumption poses a serious ecological problem via the need for more and more resources, and a disregard for ecosystem integrity. Moreover, the increased production of the commodities our culture demands has produced a great deal of waste. As David Orr observes,

"The problem is that we do not often see the true ugliness of the consumer economy and are not compelled to do much about it. The distance between shopping malls and their associated mines, wells, corporate farms, factories, toxic dumps, and landfills, sometimes half a world away, dampens our perception that something is fundamentally wrong. Even when visible to the eye, the ugliness of such a system is concealed from our minds by their very complexity, which makes it difficult to discern cause and effect. It is veiled by a fog of abstract numbers that measure our sins in parts per billion and as injustices discounted over decades and centuries. It is cloaked by the ideology of progress that transmutes our most egregious failures into chrome plated triumphs. (Orr 146)"

Orr obviously recognizes the fact that we do not pay attention to the ecological impacts of our consumptive choices. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, Orr sees that environmental degradation—even when we do take note of it—is written off as the “cost of doing business,” that is easily justified in light of whatever new commodity or technological device is created. The abstract ideal of progress trumps the very real and tangible ecological problems around us. Furthermore, many who argue against restraint make the claim that progress itself will provide the answers, and that just around the next corner is the technological answer to our environmental problems. However, such hope is wrong on two counts, the first being that such statements fail to question the underlying assumption that the technological narrative is the only way to live, and secondly, though science may help us through an ecological crisis, we may still be left with a world that is not worth living in. I cannot even imagine a world without cold mountain streams or roadless forests, let alone consider living in such a place.
Technology and consumerism degrades ecological communities not only by extraction of resources, but by also fundamentally changing the way in which we engage wilderness. Since the underlying modus operandi of technology is the subjugation of nature, we find that even leisure activities that are meant to engage us with nature serve to separate us. Our contact with nature is itself a function of the promise of technology. There was an advertisement for the Toyota Land Cruiser which declares the SUV as “The Answering Machine to the Call of the Wild.” The implication being that to enjoy the wilderness one requires a machine to do it. This is I suppose why we build roads to the tops of mountains and through untracked forests. However, it is not merely the environmental damage done by road building in wilderness areas that must give us pause. What is so unsettling about such things is that they show how entrenched the technological narrative truly is, as these sentiments show that the dominant cultural ethos tells us that even to enjoy nature we must dominate it and bring it under our control. As one advertisement for a Ski-Doo snow mobile expresses it,

"The Mountain calls you. It taunts you. It dares you. You see it everyday. You’ve watched its face grow white, and it has created in you a will to conquer it that you simply cannot ignore. Sure, you’ve won highmarking contests before, but this new challenge requires something much more special. More determination, more concentration, more sled. This is why you pack the most potent mountain machine you can buy…This morning you’re going to show the mountain who’s boss. You’re rolling in with the Ski-Doo Summit Highmark Sled. (Ski-Doo Corp.)"

The violence of the language is obvious, as is the narrative upon which it is built. What becomes clear to us is that even protected wilderness areas are not immune from technology, for quite to the contrary, one difference between a clear-cut and a virgin stand of trees is that we have merely chosen a different means of technological domination; snowmobiles in one place, SUV’s in another place, and chainsaws and skidders in a third.
Lastly, but certainly of not the least importance is the fact the the technological narrative has silenced the voices that allow us to speak of value in wilderness outside of the language of domination. While scientific languages deal in quantifiable factors such as board feet of lumber or recreational user days, such language falls woefully short of fully articulating the values of wild places. Though such discourse is the dominant voice in decision making regarding wilderness preservation, we nevertheless sense that such language is impoverishing. As Paul Schullery writes,

"…the quantification of the ephemeral, emotional things into cash amounts stirs great uneasiness in our souls, because we know that not everything should be reduced to such flatness by a spread-sheet mentality that sees no farther than the cash register. (Schullery 260)"

To speak of wilderness in economic terms cheapens it, hiding its true value. When we talk of it in such terms, we are treating it as a mere resource, and we ultimately see that to protect wilderness because of recreational user days or recreational dollars is to further the technological narrative. These arguments serve only to further our disengagement.







Works Cited


Borgmann, Albert. Crossing the Postmodern Divide.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992
Borgmann, Albert. Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: A Philosophical
Inquiry. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1984
Descartes, Renee. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy.
Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1998
Orr, David W. “The Ecology of Giving and Consuming” Consuming Desires: Consumption,
Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Ed. Roger Rosenblatt, Washington: Island Press, 1999 137-154
Schullery, Paul. Searching for Yellowstone: Ecology and Wonder in the Last Wilderness
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997
Smiley, Jane. “Ít All Begins with Housework.” Consuming Desires: Consumption,
Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness Ed. Roger Rosenblatt, Washington: Island Press,
1999 155-172

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