Technophobia

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Technophobia is the fear of, or revulsion to, modern technology and is the opposite of technophilia. Sometimes the term is used in the sense of an irrational fear while others defend that the fears are justified.

Contents 1 Technophobic groups 2 Technophobia in arts 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] Technophobic groups

Several societal groups may be called technophobic, notably Luddites and Amish. Sometimes, businesses and environmentalist groups trying to prevent the spread of a technology are also called technophobic by opponents even though they may only be advocating something they describe as "best practice".

In contrast, a Luddite has a social stance against technology, not simply a fear. The Amish (and some Mennonites) state that they are against modern technology because of religious convictions.

[edit] Technophobia in arts

An early example of technophobia in fiction and popular culture is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Technophobia was a theme in the films of eighties with rogue robots cropping up in The Terminator, as well as Ash and Bishop in the Alien film series, which also show technophobia of the future: "hi-tech racism and android apartheid". More recently there have been movies like I, Robot, The Matrix Trilogy and the Terminator Sequels.^[1][2]. Shows such as Doctor Who- most specifically in the episode Robots of Death- have also tackled the issue of technophobia, with a character in Robots of Death displaying a great fear of robots due to their lack of body language, described by the Fourth Doctor as giving them the appearance of 'dead men walking'. Series consultant Kit Pedler also used this fear as a basis for the inspiration of classic Doctor Who monsters the Cybermen, with the creatures being inspired by his own fear of artificial limbs becoming so common that it would become impossible to know when someone had stopped being a man and become simply a machine.

In the film, Omega Man (loosely based on the Richard Matheson novel I am Legend), the world has been scarred by biological warfare and only a handful of humans and a cult of mutants remain alive. Charlton Heston's character is a scientist who is being targeted by the mutants who wish to destroy all science and machinery due to their technophobic beliefs.

Godfrey Reggio's Qatsi trilogy also deals heavily with issues of technophobia.

[edit] See also

• Chemophobia
• Dystopia
• Darwin Among the Machines, Erewhon and Samuel Butler (novelist)
• Minimalism in Philosophy
• Phobia
• Technophilia

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Brosnan, M. (1998) Technophobia: The psychological impact of information technology. Routledge.
• Dan Dinello Technophobia: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology