Channels, Fall 2016

Channels • 2016 • Volume 1 • Number 1 Page 43 Choosing to Choose: Technique and The Stanley Parable Aaron Alford Communication — Cedarville University Introduction ocieties’ work, free time, and relationships depend upon electronic devices that connect people instantaneously to a global network of communication. Modern technique has become an unquestionable, totalizing phenomenon. From capitalist markets to the phones they create and the jobs they automate, technology is no longer an assistant to humanity. Technology is an end in and of itself. In this world, the most efficient way of completing a task is the correct way of doing that task, regardless of the ethical or aesthetic value of the method. The modern man lives his life through screens and interfaces that limit the possible tasks he can complete because it saves him time. Modern entertainment is driven by profit-based, computer-generated imagery. Media ecologists warned of a day when technology would compromise freedom and when the need for technology would rule society instead of the other way around. This paper will examine the ontological impact of the ideology of technique, exposing its dangers and implications as laid out by Vilém Flusser and Jacques Ellul. It will make the case that the dialogue of play as well as increased computer literacy is key to maintaining human freedom in a technocratic world. This paper will analyze the text of The Stanley Parable as a case study in modern technique and as an illustration of the power of play to challenge the monolith of technological thought. Overview to Media Ecology Media ecology is an area of communication theory first explicitly defined by Marshall McLuhan and his mentor Harold Innis (though Postman technically coined the term). The theory says that the dominant media of a society is the key factor in determining cultural values. Technology, best understood, is an extension of the physical faculties of people. Flusser (1993) explained that “Machines are simulated organs of the human body. The lever, for example, is an extended arm. It increases the ability of the human to lift, but ignores all the other functions of the arm has” (p. 55). Machines are not value free; they prioritize specific functions of humans. Writing prioritizes the ability to speak in a linear fashion while ignoring the other functions of the human voice like singing. The factory prioritizes the ability to function efficiently while neglecting other aspects to human fulfillment like love or spirituality. Technology is inevitable, and it can improve human existence in many ways. But the dominant technology of a culture influences how that culture views the world. Marshall S