Technology and Culture

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 359 economic theory and economic measurement leads them to inquire into the contribution of factors like labor or land or exports to gross national product. They wish to work out exact measurements for each factor and then to plug the numbers into the equations which weigh the influence of each one on economic growth. But modern economic theory does not lead its practitioners to ask about procedures, such as how a farmer actually grew his crops or how he went about growing more. Such questions will have to be answered by economic historians working from another perspective, and those historians will necessarily reconsider the contribution of technology to improved productivity. Richard L. Bushman* Technology and the Canadian Mind: Innis/McLuhan/Grant. By Arthur Kroker. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984. Pp. 145; notes, bib­ liography. $22.50 (cloth); $8.95 (paper). “Canada’s principal contribution to North American thought con­ sists of a highly original, comprehensive, and eloquent discourse on technology,” posits Arthur Kroker at the outset of his Technology and the CanadianMind. According to Kroker, this discourse is situated, because of historical circumstance and geographical accident, midway between American infatuation with the technological dynamo and European reluctance to embrace an inescapable technological imperium. Indeed, argues Kroker, the Canadian discourse is “a sustained and intensive reflection on the meaning of the technological experience” (p. 12). Kroker proposes that the work of notable Canadian intellectuals, writers, artists, and musicians may be seen as the expression of a creative “technological humanism” or an opposing “technological de­ pendency.” The bulk of his book treats the work of three of these intellectuals from the perspective of political theory. Communication theorist Marshall McLuhan is portrayed as the foremost exponent of the humanistic response; philosopher George Grant exemplifies the contrasting philosophy that deplores the fruits of technology. Kroker identifies, in addition, a third perspective that mediates between these two: technological realism, as propounded by historian and political economist Harold Innis. Kroker is obviously attracted by George Grant’s insight that technol­ ogy is the embodiment of modern nihilism, but he faults Grant, in the end, for being too romantic, too optimistic on the question ofjustice, and above all, too unwilling to face the political implications of his ideas. Marshall McLuhan, the “last and best” liberal (p. 78), finds even less favor in Kroker’s eyes. Although praising McLuhan for his empha­ *Dr. Bushman is professor of history at the University of Delaware. 360 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE sis on freedom and creativity, Kroker ultimately condemns him for his blind spots: his lack of concern for the economic dimensions of the control of modern technology and his complete obliviousness to the centrality ofthe national question for Canadians. Harold Innis receives the most positive treatment. He is praised for his recognition of the paradox of modern technology, for his search for a reconciliation of the dualisms inherent in modern culture, and especially for his political analysis that shows how power works. These three perspectives, taken together, represent the major con­ temporary responses to technology, argues Kroker. In other words, the significance of the theories of his three wise men ought to extend beyond the Canadian experience alone. Yet, despite the myriad allu­ sions scattered throughout his prose, Kroker scarcely develops a co­ gent view of how the writings of Innis, McLuhan, and Grant are distinctive and original within a broader context of Western culture. One wonders, moreover, whether Kroker has accurately and ade­ quately represented the major contours of Canadian thought and artistic expression. It seems somewhat misleading, for instance, to invoke the fiction of Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro, and Margaret Atwood as offering an “angle of vision on the technological experi­ ence” (p. 14). Along with the works of other leading writers like Robertson Davies, Mavis Gallant, and Hugh McLennan, their literary expression seems marked more by an indifference to, not a denial of, technology. The same could be said of the marked personalism, if not blatant romanticism, that characterizes the contributions of many other eminent Canadians. Finally, Kroker’s three thinkers are put aside in an epilogue that argues that the “sheer scale and acceleration of technological change” have...