Technology

In his lecture Why Technology Joel Tarr looks back at the things that influenced and shaped his interest in contemporary technology. In doing so, Tarr also retraces the effects of technology on the industrial and environmental landscape of urban Jersey City. At the start of his lecture, Tarr recognizes the need to identify how we get to where we are now and what the turning points were. Tarr initially reveals that, as an urban environmentalist, he was astonished that he was awarded an honor that has everything to do with technology when in fact his academic background has nothing to do with it. This astonishment of his, however, leads to a discovery of the power of technology in changing societies.

At a young age, Tarr says that he has already experienced the fruits of technology, albeit far less complex than what technology is today. His environment at that time was already teeming with machines there was no escape. After going through all the academic pursuits as he went through in his adult life, he eventually found himself deeply engaged in several interdisciplinary research grants. From there, Tarr used his expertise in the social sciences, specifically in urban planning and history, in finding new ways to improve the different technologies that societies use. These include, among others, the waterway systems. It is this story of his life which he uses as a premise to say that history is not the only discipline worthy of our attention in overcoming new challenges. Indeed, history is not the only discipline where we can learn from in order to solve contemporary problems.

History, however, should not be relegated to the sidelines altogether. What Tarr presents in his lecture is the idea that the lessons history offers us can and should only be combined with what we are able to learn from other disciplines. Take for example Tarrs earlier research grant. He was previously teamed up with engineers, a few other urban planning specialists, andinterestinglya historian. The part where the roles of the engineers and urban planning specialists come in is easy enough to identify. As for the historian, however, the connections are not easily recognizable. This is because the study of history has been typically aligned with pure academics and not with any other practical application. In spite of this, Tarr suggests that the historian had a lot to offer, as in fact the historian did, in the process of their research. It was the historian who provided historical insights into what the citys waterway system was in the past. More importantly, it was the historian who gave a new perspective into what could have been a purely technological pursuit. This, Tarr recalls, was one of the reasons why their research turned out to be a huge success.

At a time when Jersey City was heavily industrializing, Tarr also recalls that the administrators back then realized the need to change the urban environmental landscape. The reason to this is because people in the city began to move out as the place grew more and more industrialized. Unless the imminent problem is resolved as soon as possible, Jersey City faces the threat of turning into a city of factories and all other sorts of structures with very few inhabitants. Understanding the need to address this concern, the city administrators developed ways to revitalize the city in terms of making the place more human-friendly, as it were, to the residents. One important aspect of the process is the involvement not only of those who were experts in the technologies needed but also of those who were very well aware of the history of the city. Apparently, Tarr brings into mind the idea that technological developments have strands of history embedded in them.

Thus, the answer to Tarrs questionwhy technologyrests on our understanding of the power of technology. In other words, the answer depends on our knowledge of what technology is capable of doing. In many ways, technology is capable of improving the society as in the case of Jersey City. To say that technology is a powerful tool in improving societies is to acknowledge the idea that there are many things in societies that need constant improvement as these societies continue to move forward. This is the part where history enters.

To understand the history of a city, for instance, is to realize not only its strengths but also its weaknesses. Apparently, Tarr recognized this principle in his lecture when he asserted that he tried to move away from Jersey City because it was transforming into something new yet something that he did not want as a resident. Tarr knew quite well that the place where he lived at the time was one that was morphing into an urban landscape more than before. While he understood the potential of the city to grow, he also frowned upon some of the disadvantages it brought with it. In other words, Tarr confirms the idea that history reveals both the good things and bad things about a place.

Technology endows society with the ability to correct itself. Put in another way, technology allows people to refine their society based on their understanding of their societys history. Certainly, there is no single way to handle the complexity of the challenge to improve upon societys weaknesses. Technology alone will not suffice to do the task. History alone will not suffice to do the same. Rather, it is the aggregate powers of history and technology which humanity can use to achieve the seemingly difficultif not impossible.

Why technology It is because technology gives history a useful limb. In more practical terms, urban planning specialists and engineers provide the operative side to some of historys compelling theories and discoveries. People may be able to discern the historical flaws of a citys urban planning but it will be a burdensome task to address these problems without the help of technology. A citys outdated and heavily problematic waterway system will remain a lesson in history unless people begin to realize that technology can provide the methods and facilities necessary to either correct the mistakes of the past or improve what has been done before. Several more examples can be said to raise this point. However, the more important thing to remember is that technology and history go hand-in-hand as neither one can fully transform a society for the better.

There is a far more interesting lesson to be learned from Joel Tarrs lecture. It is this the more people attempt to move away from history, the more they are drawn towards it. Tarrs life experiences are fine illustrations. If at all people tend to move away from history, when they return from that state where history seems to repeat itself, people will realize that what they have learned during the time when they have been away, so to speak, can only help them to retrace and improve upon the lessons that history taught them. Tarrs lecture leaves the mental imprint that history is not as useless as it first appears to be, only that through the aid of other disciplines can one fully appreciate the need to do what should have been done earlier. An awareness of the power of technology is also an awareness of the changes that history demands.