The “Natural Selection” of Technology—A Critique of Levinson’s Theory of Media Evolution
The “Natural Selection” of Technology — A Critique of Levinson’s Media Evolution Theory Hu Yilin© (Department of Philosophy, Peking University, Beijing 100871) Abstract: Levinson inherits the tradition of media ecology, but only superficially. He believes that traditional critics of technology merely focus on technology’s drawbacks and do not evaluate technology from an evolutionary perspective. Levinson thinks that the drawbacks inherent in technology in its infancy will be eliminated or remedied in the course of evolution. But Levinson’s evolutionism faces three problems: Who is doing the selecting? By what criterion is selection made? How are the results of selection evaluated? Levinson’s answers to these three questions are all “nature—human nature,”…
阅读全文