Assignment #5

Rough Draft


In chapter 6 of “Technology Matters,” David Nye focuses and argues how technology can bring both sustainable abundance and ecological crisis. As Nye makes his arguments, he uses many interesting sources to help prove his point and make things clear. Two sources I thought Nye uses really well are, “Discovering the Vernacular Landscapes,” by J.B Jackson and “Our Progress in Mechanical Engineering: The President’s annual Address,” by Robert H. Thurston.

When trying to answer the question “Sustainable Abundances, or Ecological Crisis,” that he poses himself, Nye tries to make his readers see it from both sides rather than arguing for one side. As a result, Nye must use many sources to help him address some of his main points. Nye uses these two sources to help him argue about how technology has been useful and how it is creating many environmental issues.

In “Our Progress in Mechanical Engineering: The president’s annual Address,” Robert Thurston talks about how technology has improve our life. He wrote, “Our mills, our factories, our workshops of every kind, are mainly engaged in supplying our people with the comforts and the luxuries of modern life, and converting crudeness and barbarism into cultured civilization. Measured by this gauge, we are fifty percent more comfortable than in 1880, sixteen times a comfortable as were our parents in 1850, and our children, in 1990 to 1910, will have twice as many luxuries and live twice as easy and comfortable lives.” Nye uses this passage in Robert Thurston’s book to help him point out that with technology, “People had more leisure time and more money to spend.” Nye is saying that because of technology, people work less yet they get paid more. With technology, it allows factories to produce more goods to sell which enables them to pay their workers a better wage.

When Nye argues that technology brings sustainable abundances, he also argues that technology also brings many ecological crises. Nye uses J.B Jackson’s book, “Discovering the Vernacular Landscapes,” to help him address this point. In his book, J.B Jackson focuses on how technology has shaped the landscapes. Nye says that “landscapes provide a physical measure of technological change.” He has an interesting point here. I think he is trying to address that technology has somehow shape our landscapes and that “Landscape is not natural, it is cultural.” It is no longer natural because technology has shape many of the landscape physically.

I find the sources that Nye uses to help him address his points were very interesting. Nye uses them very well. The sources he choosesto use in this chapter seems to make his points clearer and it supported his points very well.