One aspect of technology to me is that it is, in many ways, a symbol of replacement. There are machines that speed up the process of creating items and goods, computers that perform functions that the human brain is incapable of accomplishing, and networks that can send messages in what seems like an instant. It is something that we touched on in class today, with an analogy on shoe making. A shoe maker in the past could take the time to make his work distinctive, earn his money by being a hard worker. But by the time of the 1800’s, there were shoe making machines, and a shoe maker’s passion and craft was rendered meaningless. After all, why bother when a machine can make shoes three times faster than you with about the same quality?

It tied into our discussion today about GarageBand, but before that, we focused on the development of the steel guitar. The steel guitar is seen in country music, which is also seen as white music, but once again we learned that just because an aspect of music ended up in one sphere of culture, it doesn’t mean it was always in that sphere from conception. The steel guitar found its way to the United States from Hawaiian musicians, who became popular in the United States some time before World War One. The popularity of the Steel Guitar resulted in some variations of it being formed that is still used to this day, such as the pedal steel guitar, used by Robert Randolph. It was an interesting journey of history to go through, and we even learned a little bit about Hawaii on the way.

For the last segment of class, Professor O’Malley discussed GarageBand. While I was expecting a demonstration of tracks (which he did well in providing for us), the discussion took an interesting turn, one that I have alluded to in the beginning of this post. Does the instinct of workmanship exist in people now? Something like GarageBand makes music easier, simpler, to the point that it’s a question of why do people bother to learn how to play instruments. The development of technology has troubling implications for many careers, already doing some damage to the workforce of America. It’s worrying to me, considering my own uncertainties to what I want to work as when I leave college. It’s something to consider regardless.