The Web Poetry Corner is a Dream Machine Site
The Dream Machine --- The Imagination of the World Wide Web

It is now possible to read this poem aloud, record it and post it on this site.
Click HERE to find out how.

The Web Poetry Corner - Mohammad Badri - Poetic Review of "THE CULT OF INFORMATION of Theodore Roszak"

Poetic Review of "THE CULT OF INFORMATION of Theodore Roszak"

by

Mohammad Badri

Fasten your seatbelts friends . . . it’s about time . . .!
World is cruising beyond the light . . . . .
The conqueror is information age, destination unknown . . . . .
Through this journey pursue Roszak’s guidance and hold tight.
Roszak sincerely whispered it all . . . . . . .
Wished data merchants allowed his message to soak in.
Roszak thinks information technology is extremely dynamic to contain,
It seems absolutely terrifying to maintain.
Summer was uneasy as a quick term,
Climate was frenzied by ENRON scandals,
WorldCom scam and forest fires by ailing minds.
Thankfully there were prizes, events and promotions.
Exciting technology based expedition,
Led by Dr. Surry’s valuable instruction,
On famous topic, "The Cult of Information,"
Roszak’s shocking ray off Technology Ocean
Offers clues with inside information,
Disclosing his non-technophobic notion.
Roszak notes "UNIVAC" as first computer with controversial issues.
He comments about Altair, first built-up personal computer.
Wiener predicts mankind will be known as "biocomputer,"
Giving humanization of cybernetic machine in addition.
Roszak refers to Micro Man "A new species,"
But in comparison to man, he says computer intelligence stays alien.
Roszak skillfully covered the revolution from industry to information
Which collectively touched our generation.
He examines the issues of presidential nominees
Fever of polling with politically motivated predictions
Which gave CBS its role in UNIVAC’s massive operation
What a complex political innovation . . . . !
Roszak evaluated the LUDDITES and their grumbles,
They neither reviled high technology nor computers
Thinking of market packed with countless machines
Has caused joblessness in masses history’s never seen
Wages have shrunk along with boosted technology
Mankind has witnessed the most rigorous storm
A new style of Titanic on the verge of being born
It happen to be labeled information society
Fostered within the information economy.
Roszak thought Government was involved
Along with giant companies close behind
In this dilemma media resembled shell-shielding snails
Their task scored an extremely large share.
The U.S. swayed its strategy unconditionally,
Computer classes became mandatory nationally.
Efforts were made to give computer educational identity,
But computers brought to schools waves of corporate opportunities.
Roszak questions the gap formed by technology,
Among poor and rich schools in our society.
Use and misuse, trial and error reached to infinity.
Conservatives were the best supporters,
Bucks were the targets of lobby masters.
He said products made solely for troops,
Were sold to civil-merchants, turnover was good.
Made Roszak anxious to futurologists, hackers and hucksters,
With their misleading and false hypotheses.
He expresses so loud . . . . . computers were good,
Not so much for processing, but keeping record.
Roszak gave educators a wise literacy suggestion:
He said, students need little computer, but
Preserving independence of thought is more vital.
Roszak sees fear in some teacher’s faces,
Computers may soon take their places.
He says the computer’s "mature technology"
Is creating more problem than it solving.
He defined the aspect of generalization,
Clarified the distinction between terms of idea and information.
Roszak warns educators idea and information should not be confusing,
It will be hazardous for our future generation.
Idea produces information and originates from the mind

He supposed information is nothing of the kind.
Roszak’s believes in actuality of links and interaction,
Among data, information, and knowledge communication:
Lacking data there is no reality for information
Without information knowledge possesses no foundation
Without knowledge Roszak glimpses no operation.
Roszak appears hungry for healthy information,
He thinks quality is mind cherishing when it comes to information,
Both economically and strategically through his imagination.
Between facts and ideas, he detects a feasible connection.
When an idea has proven its mastery,
Becoming principle information cannot sway.
Master ideas are known as human mind he says,
The core of idea in heart of culture remains.
He argued the secret of cultural survival
Its ideas strengthen, gives it stability and power
Machines by contrast are information stores.
Roszak thinks the world is in right track of cultural evolution
Informational technology resides in the heart of this expansion.
Distinction required for machine functioning
Miracles could occur when mind is thinking,
Although mind’s true size remains perplexing.
He declares crisis when content comes before means
As the message materializes prior to the medium.
Nabokov wrote "A Passer by Whistles" Poem,
Analogous to a gleam glorifies Roszak’s positions.
Roszak stresses, Yuhara’s concept of eternal communication
Says human supersensory power, makes magnetic connections
Ultimate modem links to computer, create eternal associations
The human psyche joins the universal web of telecommunication.
Roszak argues computing machines are being unfair,
Oversimplifying scale of human mind’s working affair.
He says as machine merely stores given information,
Men creates machines, mind designs conclusions.
"Computers never make mistakes" is very misleading,
To us this Artificial Intelligence is dehumanizing.
He supposed learned division in Utopian vision,
Reversionary wished away industrial back to agrarian days,
Technophiles hoped for planet, technically super updating.
Referring to blue book Roszak says when data become infinite,
And when bi-monthly data altered information, called it data glut.
For Roszak policy is established by a set of facts,
But in computer world policies fabricate the facts,
And computers being used against people not for them he says.
Roszak honored two great guardians of literacy,
Teachers and librarians throughout the centuries.
Roszak states, what do librarians offer to data or idea seekers?
"Something that no machine will ever offer a living mind, a human presence."
Warning the creation of virtual libraries,
Will become a threat to our physical libraries.
He challenged the NREN’s idea of too far exploration,
As they wish for the public online accessing gain.
He worries about junk piles on the information highway,
However Roszak prays the institution of online communication,
Which helps raising local issues and current events discussion.
He fears "STAR WARS" complication /implementation,
A costly defense system free of human supervision.
Surpass cold war, world is not safe from nuclear danger
Global efforts have need of combating terror.
Author worries about high-tech, what comes then?
Future role of this huge monster created by men,
Official use or private sectors, imperils public privacy,
Unlawful surveillance by manipulating high technology.
Put at risk nation’s fundamental civil liberty,
In name of prevention Roszak says or national security.
Global harm to eco-system by environmental pollution.
He predicts one day the most sophisticated machine
Will make an effort to replace human brain!
Our dependency is imminent to computing scheme,
In case of disaster or failure of out dated System,
It will affect us socially the computer revolution.
To avoid harsh consequences and massive catastrophe,
Saving our planet and lives of precious inhabitants,
Today our world needs to modify its technological agenda,
Perhaps it will be too late if deferred it until tomorrow.
Instructional Design and Development has long been exposed,
To the cult of information and logical procedures,
Also emphasis on façade of ethical neutrality,
Which is driving information age by social implication of technology,
Makes Roszak’s book precious to IDD professionals,
Since it corresponds to industrial revolution significantly.

NEXT?
Why don't you look at Basaru!
by: James Steel
from: Maple Shade, NJ, US

To visit all of Mohammad Badri's poems, click HERE

Check out these deals at Amazon.com

...the best independent ISP in the Twin Cities

To write us about this page,
contact willy@dreamagic.com (Willy Chaplin)