IBM, Holocaust

[Monte Davis]

[repost]

Agreed. The IG Farben, Shell and GE of Gravity's Rainbow are in between the
WWII "merchants of death" (Krupp, Vickers, DuPont et al) and the
aerospace-centric military-industrial complex of the 1960s and 1970s . which
have given ground in turn to the predominantly IT villains - or scapegoats
-- of today.

 

Tangentially: as a former science writer, I've noticed that at the NY Times
and quite a few other newspapers, IT has essentially taken over the sections
labeled "Technology."  Coverage of all other technologies -- mechanical,
electrical (and non-IT electronic), chemical, materials-science,
biotechology, etc -- when it appears, is in the business section, or when
applicable in "environmental" coverage. In practice, that means any
technology news that isn't IT and doesn't [yet] have major business or
environmental implications is a hard sell in editorial conferences.  Now,
I've made much of my living writing about business computing, and have been
thoroughly addicted to personal IT since an Eagle CP/M machine in 1979, but
that still strikes me as tunnel vision. 

 

 

From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Carvill John
Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 9:27 AM
To: Monte Davis; lorentzen at hotmail.de; pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: RE: IBM, Holocaust

 

>For me, the enabling role of IT (and IBM) in the Holocaust simply doesn't
stand out from the enabling roles of many other technologies and many other
corporations. 

 

I would suggest that you also need to factor in a consideration of how those
particular technologies (and technology companies) have accelerated and
grown, in terms of their role in society, between WWII and today. There is
often greater focus on their roles due to today's tech-centric world -
understandably so.

 

 

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