Adding to this, the original quote of “the submission of all forms of cultural life to the sovereignty of technique and technology” is what makes me say "cretin

Adding to this, the original quote of “the submission of all forms of cultural life to the sovereignty of technique and technology” is what makes me say "cretin". Because it's BS. The degree to which technology is interfering with culture is a real concern, yes. But "all forms of cultural life"? Nonsense. If he could resist absurdist generalizations like that, he'd be a much more valuable thinker. Instead, he's just telling people what they want to hear. I just suffered through a brutal, dehumanizing call where I spent ten minutes trying to convince a voice recognition bot to connect me to a human being. That's part of Postman's negative world, for sure. But tonight? I'm going to play music with a friend. We're recording some of his bass parts for an album. That's cultural life, too. And tomorrow? I'm going to an amazing concert, African singer Angelique Kidjo's reworking of the Talking Heads' "Remain in Light" album. That album exists because of technology. I found out about the concert because of technology. I get to hear her because of technology. Technology (and by "technology", I mean "stuff that wasn't invented yet when Postman was a kid"), in this case enriches the cultural experience. I remember seeing Postman bragging about how he uses a pencil rather than a computer to write, because Technology Is Bad. That's not sophisticated. That's a cretin. Pencils are technology, too. Paper is technology. The books he got printed are technology. But he doesn't get it, because he's a cretin. For Postman and his ilk, "technology" is "stuff that wasn't around when I was a kid". And it's bad why? Because it's unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Postman is just saying "Get off my lawn" in fancy academic language.