This post is due by Tuesday, September 17 @ midnight. No credit given for late posts.
Read the assigned chapters above, and then:
1. Provide 3 SPECIFIC observations about Cars, Culture and Media you learned from EACH chapter of our book, using 2-3 sentences combining the book and your own IYOW analysis. (Yes, the Introduction counts.)
2. Finally, ask ONE specific question you have of Cars, Culture and Media after completing our reading.
According to Seiler, highway engineers “envisioned and built highways that would restrict and regulate the driver even as they facilitated speed and expanded the choice of vectors” (135). The open road, therefore is not nearly as open and free as drivers believe it to be. This is a fact of life I have often noticed as a proud pedestrian. Where I can drift off the beaten sidewalk and into the woods or park trails, drivers are beholden to white and yellow dashes and red and green signs, even if they can go a lot faster.
ReplyDeleteSeiler brings up the idea that “to drive is to disappear”(130) and driving alone can become a sort of meditation in an “idyllic, intensely private, steel-enclosed wall of relative safety” (139). However, I don’t think this is entirely exclusive to driving. Taking a subway or part can be a meditative lapse into anonymity: watching a cityscape or suburbscape fly by can indeed become a “communal ritual of motion…a concentration so intense as to seem a kind of narcosis, a rapture-of-the-[subway].” (140).
At the close of the chapter, Seiler reference Andre Gozes’ “observation that ‘mass motoring…supports in everyone the illusion that each individual can seek his or her own benefit at the expense of everyone else” (146). I can’t even count the number of times I have crossed the crosswalk (a yield to pedestrian sign clearly in front of me) and a driver has honked, flipped me off, angrily glared, or yelled a profanity at me.
Seiler’s epilogue compares the culture of cars to the culture of the internet. Living in what is arguably the center of tech and internet development (The Bay Area), on aspect of life there that is noticeably different is the way the internet infiltrates literally all aspects of live. Everybody ages 18-30 has an online dating profile (and is unashamed); everybody orders food and car services online; everybody gets jobs online. I thought all this was normal behavior until I moved back to Vermont. How did places like Detroit embrace car culture before the rest of the country?
On page 134, we are give that Steinbeck felt "both regimented and batted around by [the highway]." And Steinbeck himself says, "Instructions screamed at me from the road..." and "you must read all the signs for fear you may miss some instructions or orders." The highway is authoritarian. The signs are strict and demanding, and there are always the highway patrol hiding in the median and on the shoulders, and there are places, construction sites, "safety corridors," ect. which don't seem to make things safer, only collect funds for the state.
ReplyDelete"...but people can travel indefinitely and 'freely' without being confined while being perfectly controlled." (p.144). I always stay in the lane I'm in, and I always stop at stop signs, and I always go under green lights. I go where I want, but I don't do what I want. That's freedom under control.
"André Gorz observes on p. 146 that, "...the cruel and aggressive selfishness of the driver who at any moment is figuratively killing the 'others,' who appear merely as physical obstacles to his or her own speed." Sartre said it differently. Hell is other people.
"The subjects produced by the apparatus of automobility pronounce and feel themselves free with an intensity that asserts motion to be the epitome, and not simply one possible dimension, of freedom" (p.149). Simply being able to move oneself, then, is freedom. Especially if the American highway system has no destination, and loops back on itself as Seiler has pointed out. As long as the wind is in your hair, there is no greater degree of freedom.
"...indeed, web 'surfing' suggests a more distracted, yet exciting, analogue of driving" (p.150). While I find surfing to be a distant analogue to driving, I seem where Seiler is coming from. Both are fun, empowering methods of motion. While both require concentration and practice, they bring an ambient qualia of ease and flexibility to mind.
"The increase in levels and vantages of surveillance... in public space and the suspension of various rights to mobile privacy... are symptoms, perhaps , of the republic of drivers' evolution" (p.151). This is unsubstantiated. Seiler tacks this on at the end, as if saying, "Oh well." I think he should have elaborated on this subject earlier, it certainly detracts from feelings of freedom.
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ReplyDeleteChapter 5
ReplyDeleteCars
I was incredibly impressed with Bel Geddes prediction that in the future (the 1960's in his case), cars will be able to prevent errors and aid in the process of driving. I remember when it became possible to watch a movie in the back seat of a car and thinking that that was incredible. Then I became exposed to rear view cameras that let you see objects directly behind the vehicle. Little beeps alert the driver if it is about to hit something. Now we are on the brink of cars that can drive themselves. Geddes saw this coming over 50 years ago, and I can't imagine the technology that we have yet to see. Can it get much more complex than a self-driving car? Based on the past and how fast technology has progressed particularly in the past 10 years, I think the next 50 years may actually see flying cars. Or cars that can drive on water. Now that's mobile freedom.
Culture
Seiler makes the point that "to drive is to be made visable-to be monitored" he goes on to make a point that driving can also allow us to disappear, to "flow anonymously in the traffic stream". This past weekend, my roommates and I piled into my Suzuki Forenza and shipped off to Strafford, VT and the home of my friend. From there we went to the Tunbridge Fair, an agricultural fair in its 142nd year. There was no cell phone service out there, and it seemed worlds away from Burlington. I was petting baby cows, goats, pigs, and alpaca. I ate blooming' onions and rode a ride called "the typhoon". It was a blast, and was only made possible by our ability to drive south for about an hour. My point is that we disappeared from the culture of Burlington and entered a completely different one. Using my car as a time machine, we escaped culture so easily. Coming back was just as easy though…
Media
Seiler made a great point that whatever is being advertised is always "backed by entities with a vested interest." By this he means that car related products are usually funded by oil industries, insurance companies, or car companies. While this makes sense, it makes everything biased. Are there ant sincere sources of media anymore? Or is it all focused on getting people to consume?
My question is how does authority come into play and affect the motorist? I want to know more of the history of authority on the road apart from general race/sexism. How do speed traps and toll booths affect the history of automobility?
ReplyDeleteChapter 5
ReplyDeleteOn page 133 Seiler describes the rhetoric of driving publication as falling between two forms of liberalism; doctrine and made government. By this the author means that the instructional manuals and other informational mediums about cars drew attention to the cars ability to expand upon one’s autonomy. This idea of autonomy is strong enough that it trumps the responsible driving messages.
On page 135 Seiler uses the words of John Urry in describing driving on the highway as being a, “peculiar combination of flexibility and coercion.” He believes this ‘peculiar combination’ as being a controlled and limited freedom. This is so because the road has physical limitations in where it goes, limits the individual’s ability in getting there, and subjects the individual to regulations as he/she partakes in the promised freedom. This is certainly relevant to class because freedom of the road is a persistent theme utilized by media to portray cars.
Page 139 Seiler starts the discussion of driving to disappear as opposed to being watched. Several writers comment on the roads ability to seal the driver away from the outside world and create a “happy stupor”. This is relevant to class because it can be used to describe the privacy created by automobiles in American Graffiti.
Epilogue
As previously discussed in class, on page 150 Seiler compares the internet to a super highway. He compares them to both in their ability to spread information and more importantly in their ability to promote freedom. This is important to cars culture and media in that it is a combination of all three. Just going online one subjected to cars culture and media more so than not.
In the paragraph in the middle of page 150 Seiler begins to explore how driving culture will fare in the future of globalization. It will perhaps prosper through the information highway or be replaced by the same. I did find it odd that despite his acknowledgement of globalization he also described the workplace becoming less skilled which are opposing in many ways especially on the post-industrial side of the globalized world.
Finally he describes the coming of cars to China as a democratizing force. A quote from a Chinese motorist supports this idea in the freedom he describes on the road. This is relevant because The People’s Republic of China is an authoritarian regime with the largest population, meaning that media potential along with car use is massive and far beyond that of the west.
How can the car be a conduit and promoter of the autonomous individual when authoritarian regimes like Nazi Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Russia all have/had high car to citizen proportions yet few civil liberties? Also wouldn’t the relationship between cars and the autonomous individual be more based on correlation not causation with economic freedom/stability being the primary driving force?
Chapter 5
ReplyDeleteCars: As we have seen and come to know, cars are a gateway for freedom and offer people some form of escape. It separates people from the surrounding world, but also puts them into another world, the automobility world. “Being alone in a car is like being in one’s own time machine, in which the mind can rove ahead to the future or scan the past” (p. 139). Cars offer a special place for people to clear their heads of life’s activities and to think on their own terms. I know for a fact this is still true today because my car is my own personal form of escape from my problems. Cars are good for things such as these.
Culture: American culture has been known for its individualism, but also for its unity when times call for it. Cars are a perfect example of how citizens can be individuals but also one complete unit. “The car stands for individualism; mass transit for collectivism” (p.145). This quote really jumped out at me because of its truthfulness. Mass transit allows for people to move freely together as one, while a car offers people alone time and to move by themselves. I never really thought of this whole thing as collectivism versus individualism though so this was very interesting.
Media: Many authors discussed the freedom the highway offers cars. They collectively agree on the fact that the car is a form of escape and can lead to anywhere, but it’s not necessarily fully free because cars stay within a designated system of roads. “To drive on the highways, is to be subject…if you leave me you are lost, it warns” (p. 135). This quote was interesting because I never really thought about highways being a way to confine cars, but it really is. People think they can go wherever they want, but in reality they can only go as far as the road takes them.
Epilogue
ReplyDeleteCars: On page 151, Seiler discusses the increase of surveillance in public spaces, so anywhere cars mainly go. This does not surprise me that the government has tried to up its control, I just find it ironic that cars offer some people a place to be alone and escape, but in reality they are constantly being monitored and watched.
Culture: “The subjects produced by the apparatus of automobility pronounce and feel themselves free with an intensity that asserts motion to be the epitome, and not simply one possible dimension, of freedom” (p. 149). I found this quote to be interesting because it is part of American culture to feel freedom as people are in motion and going wherever they want. It is not a strong quote for what I am trying to say, but I feel as though it’s one of the main culture quotes in this chapter.
Media: On page 150 the author begins to discuss technology and the driving of technology. “Indeed web surfing suggests a more distracted, yet exciting, analogue of driving.” I never really thought surfing the internet was driving, but in reality it is. This quote really summed it up for me and offered a link to what’s popular in modern days (technology) and the most popular thing in the old days (cars).
Question:
What do you think will be our next big thing to “drive”? (cars -> internet -> ????)
Chapter 5
ReplyDeleteCars: Cotten Seiler brings up this idea that, “to drive is to disappear…to flow anonymously in the traffic stream.” (p.139) Individuality on the highway was lost, the driver has become just another car on the road and driving lost the feeling of excitement. Seiler continues on with examples from other writers talking about this idea of being in a driving narcosis, where one’s sense of time and space vaporized. I know when I go on road trips, looking out the window watching the scenery blur past me, I am put in this sort of trance. It’s the strangest feeling. Cars have lost their previous qualities from prior decades and have become disenchanting. A car no longer promised excitement and adventure on the open road, but controlled paths, invisibility, and narcosis.
Culture: Seiler brings back up this cultural shift postwar of the “new American self as a lesser being.” (p.131) This new “America” destroyed old ideas of individualism and masculine based ideas that “made America” and shifted to feminization and supposed “communist” ideology. America lost this concept of individualism and autonomy and these cultural mindsets translated in to automobility.
Media: “…education and more education to convince man that he must live up to his car.” (p.133) Cotten Seiler brings up this era of technological literature of automobility (driver’s manuals) that promoted autonomy and described the responsibilities of automobility. Driver’s manuals also doubled as an education tool, as well as advertisements for car, insurance, and oil companies. All of these driver’s manuals had more of an agenda than just teaching proper driver’s etiquette, but to improve the driver themselves. Driver’s manuals were important forms of media in this time.
Epilogue
Culture: At the end of the epilogue, Seiler discusses the expansion of automobility in India and China, creating an entirely new culture. China has already had a rapid increase in the construction of their highway infrastructure and it continues to grow. This feeling of freedom the car brings in their authoritarian government, has a liberating effect. It will be interesting to see how the introduction of cars will alter their culture in the future and the remaining oil supplies.
Media/Cars: As we have already discussed in class, Seiler compares the “information superhighway” and automobility. Whether you are navigating your way through multiple web pages or driving on the highway, the internet and the automobile offer you mobility and freedom. The internet has become an important media platform and has created an important bond with the automobile. With the click of a mouse, we are able to find all we want to know about a car and vice versa or we can tap into the internet with the GPS or satellite radios in our cars. The possibilities of the internet and automobile relationship seem like a powerful duo.
Question: As developing countries such as China and India develop their car culture, how will their development affect our current automobile culture, especially with the dwindling oil supply?
“… These great roads are wonderful for moving goods but not for the inspection of countryside. You are bound to the wheel and your eyes to the car ahead…” (134) This quote to me is about how our roads mirror society in the way we have developed and advanced. A 65mph speed limit is saying you don’t need to take the time to see what is around you, the goal is to get where you are going and that’s it. In our society today people are more concerned with going fast and getting things done, rather that feeling and enjoying the motions of it.
ReplyDelete“I am not saying this is the only aim of highways, but people can travel indefinitely and “freely” without being confined while being perfectly controlled. That is our future.” (144) He was right that is our future. The world of technology has increased rapidly giving us every device we could possibly need to feel independent and free…while at the same time being completely controlled and watched. Just one example of this is whether we are using our computer, iPhone, iPad, or tablet every advertisement, purchase, and website we click on is recorded and collected as data. This effects what other advertisements, popups and articles we are personally exposed to. Targeting our interests and influencing every aspect of our lives making media persuasion even more efficient then it was before. Our reality and future is a world of surveillance.
“To drive is to me made visible- to be monitored, recognized, and apprehended… to drive is to disappear –to be divested of one particularities and, having assumed the blank identity of a liberal subject, to flow anonymously in the traffic stream.” (139) When I’m driving home to Hinesburg, I’m not thinking about how my rout is planned out for me or how my picture is being taken as I drive under a stop light, I am simply enjoying the act of driving and getting a change to be “alone.” No matter how much surveillance they put on you to make sure you are following the rules and doing everything you are supposed to, as soon as you shut that car door behind you, you feel completely cut off and separate from everything around you.
As Americans are becoming more aware of the consequences caused by their need for automobility over the past decades such as depleting resources, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental degradation we have become concerned about Chinas plans for the expansion and growth of automobility, but who are we to say they shouldn’t continue on their road to automobility due to the state of our environment, when we have been driving all over it without concern for decades? Is there a way to promote more public transportation and less driving or is it too late?
In chapter 5, Seiler argues two apparently opposite points; driving makes you an individual outside of the system and in control, and that driving makes you an integral part of the system, a cell in a body that all functions smoothly. He initially says that the culture of driving makes you part of "a total collective act"(135), a traveler that moves "within highly determined circuits" (134). These two comparisons, when coupled with the white and red lights of the visualized freeway can easily bring to the mind of the reader the flow of oxygenated and depleted blood cells that flow through a human body. One can further extrapolate that the large masses that the blood cells [cars] go in and out of are the major functioning parts of the body, just as cities are hubs of the world. Unfortunately our body cannot change as rapidly as the surface structure of the world, we cannot create massive mitochondria to imitate the factory farms of the world today. But you can easily imagine that to be a solitary blood cell in the blood stream might be like a driver in a free way. One you hit a major artery, you can "be divested of one's particularities" (139) and even "flow anonymously in the traffic stream"(139).
ReplyDeleteHigh energy statements are present everywhere while driving. In ads and street signs suggestions are placed into the drivers mind, but most startling are the strict and aggressive signs stating what must and must not be done. No gray area is present while driving, and the symbols make no mistake. Signs that say "stop", "yield", "limit" and "exit" are startling to unwary drivers, and the approach of the next turn can cause minor panic attacks while driving in a new place. It is a stark comparison to the hopeful and wishful "open road" attitude that many drivers hope for. Although there may be places that are left uncontrolled, the majority of drivers do not live near it.
Chapter 5
ReplyDeletePage 130: “I will consider in this chapter that the highway, with its engineered and delimited environments, and highway driving, with its sensations of freedom and anonymity and its procedural regulation, as integral to the American imaginary in the twentieth century (and beyond).” You see it in so many different visual media. The image of cars driving on the highway is used as a transitionary tool in film as well in many TV show openings. The image is so commonplace in the media and in our everyday lives that we tend to forget how novel the idea of an expansive road system once was.
Page 135: “I am already prepared, the road promises; if you leave me you are lost, it warns.” This sentiment has been proliferated by the expansion of GPS technology. Drivers used to carry around a set of maps to plan out their trips before the advent of the highway. Now, to get from one place to the other the highway is usually the easiest way to go, and it was built that way. However, as we whip by on the interstate, we miss so much that is worthy of seeing and experiencing.
Page 146: “It gives and supports in everyone the illusion that each individual can seek his or her own benefit at the expense of everyone else. Take the cruel and aggressive selfishness of the driver who at any moment is figuratively killing the ‘others’, who appear merely as physical obstacles to his or her own speed” I know I have felt like this on the road as I'm sure many others have as well. There are times when I hate driving and sometimes when I enjoy it immensely. I think it all comes down to whether my driving is for pleasure or for a different purpose.
Epilogue
Page 149: “Yet automobility is an instantiation of freedom that…has taken over the twentieth century taken on the character of cultural neurosis.” Many of the players involved have carefully constructed the image of automobility as an example of American freedom. Some argue that it is just an illusion, that automobility is a masked version of conformity, but I think that there is enough free will implicit with driving that if you chose to get off the beaten path or choose to get off the regimented schedule that is expected of you, that you can experience a true sense of freedom.
Page 150: “…web “surfing” suggests a more distracted, yet exciting, analogue of driving.” I don’t find surfing the web very exciting. Sure, like most college students I spend a decent chunk of my time doing just that but if I was to choose between driving and “surfing” for some excitement I would 99/100 times choose driving. As Seiler notes, there is a certain utility that comes with speeding or darting in and out of lanes and you just cannot get that surfing the web.
Page 151: “Whether China will become a republic of drivers is a less pressing question than that of the United States remaining one.” I do not totally agree with this. I think that if China gets on a similar path towards automobility that the US took, it could make impending problems, such as oil depletion and climate change, that much worse. China has such a large population that if the car becomes such a large part of their lives that it is here, will come about sooner. Unless there is a major shift in car fuel technology by the time (if it comes) that China automobilizes we could be in some trouble.
Question: How far away are we from a fully automated transit system (i.e. self-driving cars)?
Chapter 5 + Epilogue
ReplyDelete-On page 136, Seiler quotes a 1949 highway-safety text which warned that, "at the wheel, many an American tends to transform himself into a god." Many drivers feel as though they are invincible when driving, and it's only possible for others to make errors and get injured. This is a very dangerous way to approach driving as the human element of driving is the most unpredictable aspect.
-Bel Geddes makes a prediction that cars of the future will have devices that will "correct the faults of human beings as drivers" (136). At the time few driver aids existed, yet Geddes' prediction was very accurate as most modern cars come equipped with anti-lock brakes, traction control, stability control, etc. Engineers have been able to increase the safety of cars by adding a barrier between what the driver tells the car to do and what the car actually does.
-Seiler mentions on page 145 that recent commentators have put forth that "the Interstate Highway System made automobility a more or less mandatory practice." By constructing a personal vehicle highway system as the primary mode of transportation, America has greatly encouraged (possibly even forced) the use of personal cars. Whether an American wants to be fully autonomous is not necessarily a choice when outside of major metropolitan areas, as the Interstate Highway System leaves few other options available.
What kind of driver aids will appear as standard in the future?
Cleopatra Doley
ReplyDelete- Freedom is an ever changing concept. The concept to “live as you will” on pg 130 describes how freedom is carried out through self-determination. Freedom encompasses all of these concepts, and therefore the culture of cars changes with it. I don’t feel like cars them selves are what shapes society, but the people in the society who change cars and the meaning behind them.
-It’s interesting how driving went from freedom to captivity on pg 135 due to the super highway. Freedom in car culture was about escaping, but the circular nature of super highways means that you go “right back where you started.” Suddenly that freedom is an illusion, and once the people realize the illusion, the car loses it’s power in terms of providing and outlet for freedom.
- Fear of the law is a huge aspect of car culture. How can freedom be definite in relation to the law? When the law hurts some people than others, the law is cutting off and limiting the amount of freedom cars can give to individuals. The law is something that needs to be in society to bring civilization, but the boundary between law and freedom has a very thin line.
Do cars truly fit in the idea of freedom any more?
1.
ReplyDeleteSeiler quotes James Clifford, who notes that the idea of a completely autonomous traveler is mythical. Even the “most bourgeois, commercial, aesthetic travelers moved within highly determined circuits”. There are patterns to travel, structured patterns of “power, exchange, and selfhood” that were in place long before the interstates. Our autonomy is perceived, as we are constrained to travel along a specific path (for the most part). We are subject to a “peculiar combination of flexibility and coercion”, which in many ways can be likened to our use of technology and the internet.
2.
Seiler also addresses the idea of conformity, and how highways and interstate systems have the ability to bring “inexorably unruly human bodies into line”. While highways, like the internet, allow for a high degree of equality, they also ensure our path or direction. Though we may make individual choices along the way (a YouTube video of cats—leads to more suggestions of cat videos), we end up somewhere that someone else has already been.
3.
Highway driving, as Seiler describes, can induce a sense of “narcosis and invisibility” and can erase one’s “sense of time, space, and corporeality”. This is terrifying, and 100% true. The same is true for the internet, or the information superhighway. It is easy to lose track of time and space, and disappear with the cat videos or Pinterest account for hours at a time. Does this increase our autonomy? Or limit our critical thinking ability? It is interesting to note that certain individuals ‘rebel’, or assert their individuality by speeding on the highway, breaking the rules.
1.
When considering the future of automobility, Seiler compares and considers the power of the internet, and how it integrated itself into our lives like the automobile. We are in an age of “virtual mobility”, that’s full of “endless opportunities for the individual to redefine himself”. (Note- himself)
2.
We are aware that we are currently in a shift towards surveillance. Both automobiles and the internet are no exception to this culture, as technology continues to develop that links the car and the internet almost indeterminately. “The increase in levels and vantages of surveillance” like the E-Z Pass and face recognition technology will all affect the perceived autonomy of the individual. This could be both positive, and negative. Positive in the sense that our heightened security will (hopefully) keep us safe. Negative, in the sense that you are being monitored.
3.
Seiler concludes by noting that “Whether China will become a republic of drivers is a less pressing question than that of the United States remaining one”. With our increased levels of technology and the prevalence of surveillance technology, will the American choose autonomy, and alternate forms of mobility? Or will we continue to be subject to the culture of the driver, and the social pressures and our inherent need to be mobile?
Q. Does driving, and our culture of automobility really strengthen our autonomy? Could it be argued that we are being limited as to what path we take, or being guided in specific directions by unseen government forces? What constitutes a truly autonomous traveler?
I was intrigued by the idea of independence in this chapter and the culture of the superhighways. It gave me the idea that I hadn’t recently thought about. While this whole culture of automobility and the highway system does provide a lot of independence on surface, at the same time it gives the government the ability to move around a lot easier, giving them a lot more reign. So while the average american has the freedom to travel at will, so does the government have the ability to get their nose into everyones business a lot easier and in a sense taking away more independence than the car granted in the first place!
ReplyDeleteThe car, while also making you very visible to surveillance, also makes you disappear into the traffic stream. In essence driving a car is the “annihilation of self” (p139), blending in with all around you and assuming a blank identity. And while doing this conforming to the rules laid out in front of you and abiding by the social and governmental standards. Automobility induces conformity!
Both of these ideas tie back to the media. The media which portrays driving as absolute freedom and the media which continues to push people to buy more cars. Very interesting, especially when you turn and look at it from a different perspective and see how the media affects our life and our decisions.
Chapter 5:
ReplyDeleteThe overarching theme of chapter five is that automobility provides a watered down sense of autonomy in most cases, and more typically a false sense of autonomy altogether. Juxtaposing this view with Seiller’s former arguments - that cars provide a path to freedom – seems to be contradictory. At least in theory, this is the case. When applied to reality, however, automobility both empowers and stifles the autonomous self. Referring back to the intro of chapter 5, the interstate highway system functions as one of these suppressing factors; it is predictable, regulated, void of sharp turns, marked with signage, and well traveled. Through these attributes, collectivism rather than individuality is fostered. Media does not preach this ideal, however.
Tallamy’s prediction that the car may one day be driverless shows great foresight into culture and technology. (137). He is of course correct in his prophecy, as Google has successfully created driverless a prototype. I’d be curious to learn whether or not people view this advancement is held to be liberating or not. It allows the passengers to complete other tasks while in a vehicle, but totally eliminates the human agency in the art of driving. Is this safe? Is it safer? Is it liberating or enslaving? If the interstate highway systems actually takes human autonomy out of driving, as Seiller suggests, then the driverless car seems a logical step in the next direct, where further freedom is lost.
On page 139 Seiller makes note that some form of autonomy can still be asserted while driving on the highway – the ease at which this system is navigated allows (potentially even forces) individuals into a hypnotic state. Being in this state allows a person to roam free in their mind, which is a completely personal experience. Seiller draws a connection between this driving experience and the daily routine of a worker in a Taylorist system. Although this mind state alleviates the monotony of each system, it is by no means conducive in creating a cohesive society built on the triumphs of individuals; instead asserting oneself in a productive, healthy way(such as academic research, a business venture, ect), individuals are using their unique creative juices on mere fantasy.
Epilogue:
ReplyDeleteAlthough automobility is continuing to shape American culture, its influences may be falling to a new mode of transport: the information highway. The Internet promises many of the same liberations that are found in driving, i.e. class mobility, escape, and endless travel… It also has many of the same associated drawbacks. For example, certain websites, searches, and information become trendy. Even more, social media has been born out of this invention, which is in some forms is an unstated competition at who can be the most unique/poplar; when everyone is striving to be unique through witty or cool posts of text and pictures, individuality is completely lost. Every one becomes a part of a collective machine that functions by each cog (individual person) analyzing and trying to outdo its neighbor.
So I guess that I agree with Seiller when he likens a person surfing the Internet to a person working on an assembly line. Both can be mindless activities that promote collectivism. The Internet does offer opportunities to exhibit individuality, however, where assembly lines do not. In fact, there are virtually infinite ways in which a person can assert some type of agency through the world wide web. Learning a new recipe, studying physics, making friends with a person in Taiwan are a few examples. It is therefore an extremely powerful tool. And the onus lies on the individual to employ it for good, not to become a faceless cog in a machine.
Seiller’s final comment in the chapter informs the reader that the only way to foster real individuality is through a strong community and the ability to empathize. These seem to make sense, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it is because a person needs to have a strong sense of self to be able to empathize, or to be able to put themselves into another’s shoes. And maybe a sense of community allows for individuals to embrace each other’s different capacities, realizing that each person brings a different attribute to the whole (this sounds like collectivism, but is not)…? I find this closing statement by Seiler impactful, but do not entirely understand it.
Q: What is meant by this last statement?
cars
ReplyDelete“ In many ways, the automobile is the most egalitarian invention in history, dramatically bridging the quality-of-life gap between rich and poor. The car stands for individualism; mass transit for collectivism.” (145) While it’s evident that there was a period of time that car did represent a major gap, especially with the battle for equal rights, the invention of the car has led to the possibility of freedom for all, for “the truly profound pleasure...of keeping on the move.” (139) I think its true to say, the vehicle itself and its representation is accessible to most, but I’d still argue the vehicles as a materialistic piece still creates a devision of rich and poor as outward appearance, and an individual can be highly reflective in the type of car one owns, how they drive it, and even decorate it, it still speaks highly to the individual, yet all can experience the universal freedom no matter the outward appearance of a car.
culture
Returning to the overarching idea of freedom and individualism throughout this book, I think this book has portrayed varying ideas of the topic, we’ve gone from individualism, to conformity, to freedom, to escape, to cultural neurosis. I think this is really showing a trend in many technological advancements and the way they travel through society and culture as a whole, and shift and change throughout. I think in chapter five this is evident as the debate goes from; “other-direction”: the self derived its identity and governed its actions by following the directives of others...” (131) then to “the autonomous character was free, in other words, to behave in an appropriate and “safe” manner...” 132 and finally, “freedom could wreck ... those who practiced it irresponsibly.” We have things, like cars or the internet, or iphones, whatever latest advancement gets introduced into society, as it emerges it’s new, exciting, and a sense of individualism and freedom through first experiences, then come rules and regulations and social trends, and conformity, and everyone has one and suddenly it’s not so new and different anymore, and one must conform the the “directives of others” and freedom of the mechanism, whatever it may be, no longer feels free as it must be practiced responsibly or at least socially so. I think this relates also to the media point, and the growth of trends. We live in a very unique world, and I think cars were the first technologically advancement to really go from truly free and unique to universal and overused. I think it’s almost scary to think about the life span of most technological items, in society today we almost demand for what’s new without appreciating what we have, even computers last maybe three years and suddenly your models “old.” Society has a huge impact on the growth and lifespan of technology.
media:
ReplyDelete”One can hear, moreover, in the promises of unlimited mobility and endless opportunities for the individual to redefine himself that imbue the internet with utopian power, echoes of the champions of the automobile circa 1910-1955.” I think this quote was particularly interesting, and the concept of the technological growth of both cars and internet and the impact in self-curation both advancements have had on individuals, and this whole concept of defining ourselves by choosing items (cars) that reflect ourselves, and choosing items (pictures, interests, etc,) on the internet to reflect
Question: I'm really interested in this idea of life span of technology, as I mentioned my Apple Mac book is maybe three years old, and the store refers to it as out-of-date. I think societies demand for always wanting whats new and exciting, and the rates of consumption and high interest in these items is frightening because we still don't have solutions for waste removal of technology as quick as were advancing. I guess my question is focused more on how cars relate to this issue, and in the past society grew to really appreciate the vehicle for it's metaphorical meanings and opportunities. How can society slow down, demand less of advancements in technology, deal with results of over consumption, and find appreciation in each new item as we found so deeply in the vehicle. In addition, this video is super intriguing in regards to this concept: http://9gag.com/gag/aPvB0qR?ref=fb.s
Chapter 5
ReplyDeleteCars
“”The American Road,” asserted the Ford Motor Company in 1956, “is now more than 3,500,000 miles long and always growing.””(Page 144-145) The saying of “The American Road,” made me question why our country focused their attention on how many miles of roads we had built. While we were constructing massive highway systems, other countries were creating public transit systems that would alleviate the need for personal automobiles. Cars have become one of the defining symbols of America, there are few other countries where the national number of cars is almost two-thirds of the population.
Culture
“As with African Americans and other people of color, the expansion of auto mobility in the 1950s increased women’s capacity to perform freedom in the twentieth century.” (Page 129) The culture surrounding cars during the 1950s time period was a turbulent time for many people of our country. The 1950s were a time of change in women’s rights and freedoms, along with African Americans fighting for equal rights. Compared to our present culture these social regulations are harsh, but some would say that our current culture is still not equal to all races and genders.
Media
“What driving does; and we have seen it described as liberating, individuating, revivifying, equalizing.” (page 130) These emotions that come from driving a car are sparked by the media that is constantly pushing car advertisements in front of you in magazines, television channels, billboards, and radio channels. Cars and driving are heavily integrated in media because of the constantly changing car market and the push to have everyone in America own a car. Media makes us feel these emotions about driving because when we see a beautiful person driving in a fancy car commercial they want us to feel that great when we drive their car, the media surrounding cars makes us want to drive and feel free.
Question- Why is there a large discrimination of people who are not white males, driving cars and experiencing the same freedom?
ReplyDeleteEpilogue
Cars
“Whether China will become the republic of drivers is a less pressing question than that of the United States remaining one.” (Page 151) China is on the rise as they are building more infrastructure to hold more cars and their population is triple the US population. Their technology is advancing quicker than they know what to do with the new information. They can afford to drive cars and create new infrastructure for them, but the United States is struggling as roads are falling apart and gas prices are reaching all time highs. The current state of the matter in the United States will only continue to make it more difficult for US citizens to continue to afford cars.
Culture
“The increase in levels and vantages of surveillance in public space.” (Page 151) Our culture has become paranoid and less private because of events that have happened in the past few decades. The government has more control over citizens to help create the safest environment for our citizens, but this comes with negatives. Driving is a privilege that comes with a lot of freedom and because of that cars have become a target of surveillance. Whether it is driving through a red light and getting a ticket mailed to your house or check points as you drive into a large airport, there are more people watching what we are doing with cars than previously before. Cars are bringing less freedom than they once did.
Media
“Information Superhighway” (Page 150) Although this is not quite a quote I found that the saying of the original name of the internet, is powerful when talking about cars and media. The connection between the two topics is so strong because without media, cars would be less advertised and could that have changed the amount of new models a car company will put out in a decade. Both the internet and the interstate highway system have created a massive amount of communication through traveling and virtually communicating. Before the internet communicating was more difficult and before the massive interstate highway system traveling to communicate was much more difficult.
Question- Our country has become so galvanized by cars and the technology that comes with them, what will be the next big technology shift within the car market?
Powerful insights here, posse - let's rev it up in class! - Dr. W
ReplyDeleteChapter Five
ReplyDelete“The point is not to write the sociology or psychology of the car, the point is to drive… All you need to know about American society can be gleaned from the anthropology of its driving behavior”(130). I chose this because I think it speaks a lot of truth about driving an automobile, you don’t have to dissect the process, you just have to drive.
“At the wheel, many an American tends to transform himself into a god”(136). The automobile gives empowerment and feeling so celestial that people really “transform” into another person on the road. It can change one’s personality and make them act in a completely different manner than usual i.e. road rage.
I find it interesting that Seiler makes the point that just as the automobile is used as a visual stunt and something to get attention; it is also used to disappear. Now one can “flow anonymously in the traffic stream”(139). One can stay incognito as well as being flashy and a public spectacle.
Epilogue
Page 151 refers to the “information super highway” comparing the Internet and the interstate. These are now bout crucial and integral to everyday life in American society. I feel like he is implying that maybe just as cars and the media grew together, now cars and the Internet will be an intertwined developing system.
On 151 Seiler shows that with the expansion of the automobile comes the expansion of surveillance – EZ Pass face recognition systems. While we feel like we are completely free and on our own, we are still being tracked.
The last thing that caught my eye is when he mentions work becoming more deskilled and less hospitable. How will the automotive industry and society change with less laborers in specific skill sets?
If China becomes the next republic of drivers, how will that affect American society and the US relations with China?