DVD players: technology, market, and consumer adoption

Technology, Social Order, And Change

The interaction between technology and humanity is much like the relationship between life, and art. Some say life imitates art. Others insist that art is a reflection of life, and illustrates what it perceives around it. Technology can be perceived as a series of locks and dikes through which the currents of humanity flow. Others insist that mankind has a firm grasp on the throttle of technological advancement, and that the technological machine is firmly within our control.

However, as with life and art, the distinctive lines which determine control and influence between technology and humanity are often smudged. Since the release of the desk top computer into (or onto) the population, society has been affected to a similar degree to which it has been served. Computers used to be limited to large corporations, to run only the most complicated tasks. Today are used to operate lights, regulate water, electricity, used in hospitals, store information, and produce elementary school children's book reports. There is more computing power in the average desktop computer than was built into the entire Apollo 13 space vehicle.

Closely behind the computer has followed the Internet, a new kind universe that exists only in wires and electronic bit streams. The Internet offers a vast array of information available to one click of the mouse. To many, the Internet is an alternate universe for the physical world. Here, freedom of speech is exercised to its fullest. Ideas, thoughts and opinions are expressed so freely that there are no limitations to one's grasp. While at the same time, communicating from in front of al LCD screen offers a degree on anonymity. A person is no longer at risk of being directly rejected if their ideas are outside of the social norms. In the event of a hostile response, the "Delete" key is never far away. We are insulated, while at the same time carrying on an interactive relationship. This oxymoron can drive our culture toward increased isolation, or it can cause the recognition of our need to socialize, to build intimate personal interaction, and to share life with others. Will technology guide society toward shallow e-lives, or will the culture insist that it remain the servant, constantly climbing out of intoxicating isolationism?

Society's view of technological advancement has changed during the past 30 years and this shift seem to closely mirror the rate at which technology has intertwined itself into our culture.

As the culture becomes more familiar with technological advancement, the changes are less formidable, and less threatening. In the 1970's, John Galbraith thought, as so many, that everything was run by five or six hundred companies, and the "techno-structure." technical change is the product of the matchless ingenuity of the small man forced by competition to employ his wits to better his neighbor. Unhappily, it is a fiction. Technical development has long since become the preserve of the scientist and the engineer."

Emmanuel Mesthene formulated his definition, "Technology then, is the product of interaction between man and the environment, based on a wide range of real or imagined needs and desires which guided man in his conquest of Nature."

In her book, The Real World of Technology, Ursula M. Franklin argues that technology has a disruptive effect on humanity. Her assertion is that if left-unchecked technology will eventually destroy society as we know it. She continues and contends that for society's sake, people must question everything before accepting new technologies into their world. In the book, Franklin's argument urges people to come together and participate in public reviews and discuss or question technological practices that lead to a world that is designed for technology and not for society. Franklin, however, seems unable to realize that the influx of technology and society's greater dependence of it may just be another step of evolution. Just as humans grew out of the ape and the hammer out of the twig, so to may the children and their tools of tomorrow grow to become something greater than even we can imagine.

Into this construct enters a device to play movies with crystal clear picture and sound. In light of these weighty philosophical arguments, a DVD player's significance is questionable. But considering the discussion of technology's influence on, or control over societal practices, the DVD player can also play a number of roles.

In the movie "The Majestic," a dilapidated theater is renovated by a town that has lost its heart, as many of the town's sons did not return from WWII. The theater is a metaphor for the town. As the people face their fears, disappointments, and heartache over their lost sons, they band together, repairing the theater, and with it the entire town's spirit. This theater returns to its splendor, and the town's people rediscover their own greatness as they work together, and share their grief over the dead soldiers, rather than hide it.