When we initially were taught the concept of a black box, I was very confused.
A thing that goes into a thing to give you something. That’s what I wrote in my notes. Totally not confusing.
My previous posts may make it obvious; I am chronically online. A consequence of being so attached to the internet is that I know at least somewhat about a whole lot of things. Perhaps that’s why I was so confused by the idea of a system of only inputs and outputs. I’ve taken it upon myself to know at least a little of most topics, leading my friends to give me my second unofficial middle name of “Wikipedia”.
It thus leads me to my question; can anything truly be a black box on the internet? In an increasingly aware world, can someone afford to be ignorant? See the trees and not the forest, per se.
Langdon Winner disagrees, at least with the idea that someone can leave the wider picture out of academic studies. In his paper “Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology”, Winner argues that most social constructionist writing leaves out precisely that. Where social constructionists are so focused on the contents of the box, the box itself is just that; an empty box. The narrowness and focus of a social constructionist’s work leaves out the rich world of people, of those that use the very technology they speak of. While they speak of the wonders of what lies within the black box of technological philosophy, this technology evolved, and people gained the convenience of cars and fast communication, but lost a sense of community. As Winner quotes theologian Pennimann, “They got what they wanted, but they lost what they had”.
Perhaps that is the answer to my question, or another question altogether. In my pursuit of knowledge, of curing my own ignorance, what have I lost? I wonder what else I have missed in seeing the tree for the forest. Who knows? If I had looked a little further out, I may have seen something there that wasn’t there before.
We can all use a little more consideration for others in our life.