Technology and thinking

On Sept. 17, Mark Wrathall, author of How to Read Heidegger, presented his paper, “An Education in Thinking: Heidegger on Learning to Resist Technology.”

“We live in a world where we are driven by technological forces,” he said.

He claimed that technological advances have the ability to solve problems for us, and this is eliminating our need to think. He further claimed that training and skills are being replaced by technology.

Some technology has increased our amount of leisure time, but others, such as TV, have consumed it, according to Wrathall.

He believes that education has been affected by this trend as well.

Expressing the importance of education he said, “If we do it right, we are liberating our students.”

He believes that students are just being given information on how to do things, when teachers really just need to get out of the way and let students learn. Wrathall expressed the idea that schools are training us to produce and consume commodities.

When asked what we can do as students Wrathall said, “Find things that let you pursue your passion, then you commit to them.”

Wrathall, a professor of Philosophy at University of California, Riverside, was introduced by long-time friend and UVU President Matthew Holland, and spoke to about 70 students and faculty in the Library Auditorium.

He has authored and edited various works about the philosophies of Martin Heidegger.