Revisiting the Early Discourse of the Information Age and Its Interplay with Humanity

Authors

  • Chia-I Hou National Taiwan University, Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development, Taipei, Taiwan Author
  • Jiun-Hao Wang National Taiwan University, Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development, Taipei, Taiwan Author
  • Kun-Sun Shiao National Taiwan University, Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development, Taipei, Taiwan Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55524/ijirem.2023.10.1.16

Keywords:

Ellul, Galbraith, Machlup, Mumford, Porat

Abstract

This paper examines scholars’ discourses  on the coming of the Information Age. It starts by discussing  scholars who measured the emergence of the Information  Age in the early 1960s. Machlup and Galbraith used  economic indicators, followed by the exploration of network  and knowledge sharing, which is a crucial process in the  formation of the Information Age. Ellul (1964) paralleled  humanity with technology as a “system,” and Mumford  (1966) coined the term “megamachine.” These early  arguments were pessimistic that humans were considered as  inevitably confined by uncontrolled structures due to  information and its byproducts—technology. However, in  the 1980s, Nora and Minc considered the Information Age  optimistically by introducing the concept of  “Decentralization” to indicate the freedom of “choices” for  modern people.  

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Published

2023-02-28

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2023): International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Management (Feb) 2023

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Revisiting the Early Discourse of the Information Age and Its Interplay with Humanity . (2023). International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Management, 10(1), 86–90. https://doi.org/10.55524/ijirem.2023.10.1.16
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