Abstract

Following World War II, the German philosopher Martin Heidegger offered one of the most potent criticisms of technology and modern life. His nightmare is a world whose essence has been reduced to the functional equivalent of “a giant gasoline station, an energy source for modern technology and industry. This relation of man to the world [is] in principle a technical one . . . . [It is] altogether alien to former ages and histories.” For Heidegger, the problem is not technology itself, but the technical mode of thinking that has accompanied it. Such a viewpoint of the world is a useful paradigm to consider humanity’s relationship to information in the current environment. While the published paper that this presentation is based upon applies Heidegger’s criticisms to the legal information environment, the criticisms are applicable to all kinds of information from diverse disciplines. The lecture will also review the appropriateness of applying Heidegger’s model, especially given his experience with Nazism. Finally, the presentation will consider the implications for libraries in the modern information environment.