While I truly believe that I know and understand that technology is a non-neutral, like Selber emphasizes in Chapters 3 and 5 of Multiliteracies for a Digital Age, my initial reaction to the technologies I use in my daily life does not respond appropriately to these “biases.” What intrigues me the most about the idea of non-neutral technology is not what Selfe focuses on in her book, the “hidden” socio-economic and political impetuses that brought technology to us and that continue to reinforce social inequalities, but rather the miniature, silent, personal manipulations our technologies condition us with, without our knowing. We've talked in class a few times about how software and interfaces have agendas (Blackboard, PowerPoint). Selber mentions grammar checkers, and how they make us doubt ourselves in Chapter 2.Our faith in technology troubles me, especially in light of this whole non-neutrality thing. Selber has led me to believe that technology (and “the man” behind technology) manipulates my entire life, my sense of self, and my means of thought. Technology functions for many of us as more than a tool; we’d hardly expect a hammer to know what to do with itself, and yet, we rarely question computers. I had a high school science teacher who would remind us whenever something went awry with a computer that we should first “check the carbon-based thing in front of the screen.” For Christmas a few years back, I got a book called How to Survive a Robot Uprising, a Zombie Survival Guide spin-off that offers tips and tricks about what to do when our technology malfunctions and tries to take over and kill us. I think I need to write a letter to the author of that book and give him the heads up: It’s not the malfunctioning we should fear; the danger of technology lies in its flawless, everyday operation.
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