the Sam Jackson College Experience

After more than a year of work, I finally completed and turned in my senior essay, entitled "Hijacked Dreams: Technological Determinism and the Idea of Progress." You can download all 100 pages here (Sorry - web version coming soon). I am also very proud to say that my essay was named this year's recipient of the Philo S. Bennett award for the best political science senior essay in political philosophy.

This paper traces the evolution of the Enlightenment idea of progress, exploring the manner in which this unique idea of progress - of the universal advance of man, delivered by reason into a brighter future - was usurped by what I identify as a 'technocratic' or technologically deterministic idea of progress. The issues are presented analytically, rather than historically, the better to reveal the political implications of this shift and the institutions and effects it created. Inspired originally by the question of whether or not technological progress could be expected to produce social change, I have learned much.

Perhaps it is simplest merely to present the introduction in its entirety.

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What can mankind expect from the future? For the better part of the last 300 years, the answer to this question has been “progress.†The modern idea of progress was born of the Enlightenment, and it is a belief that advances in reason will empower changes in the human moral, political, and material condition: these changes were believed to come in effect concurrently, driven by the broad impact of scientific reason upon disparate aspects of life.

This powerful idea faced serious criticisms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and ultimately ran aground on the shoals of the 20th century. In the present era this idea of progress is a suspect figure, popularly doubted and seen as a vestigial naiveté in many intellectual circles. Is this modern ambivalence a repudiation of the very idea of progress, or just a temporary setback? Its promises unfulfilled, the universal notion of progress is today broken down into constituent ideals – among them, political progress, social progress, and economic progress.

Essential faith in technology, science, and reason was formerly the dynamo at the center of this universal ideal, but the enlightenment idea of progress has been discredited for its broken promises, unfulfilled utopias, and misguided adherents. It has been reduced to a narrower thesis which privileges technology, rather than reason, as the key arbiter of human advancement. This reduction took place for political reasons essential to understanding present civilization.

In this paper I examine the constitutive elements of the Enlightenment ideal of progress, highlight certain historical antecedents, describe its later transformation into the technocratic or technologically deterministic idea of progress, and explain its subsequent fall from grace. Finally, I address the question of whether or not certain elements of this idea can or should be salvaged, and if so, how. The changing nature of the idea of progress is a function not only of changing technical and industrial circumstances, but of shifting social priorities and changes in the institutions of political power. The subject is important, but too often ignored, for if, as Charles Beard writes, “The world is largely ruled by ideas, true and false,†there have been few more influential than the idea of progress.

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I once again invite you to read the full paper: I welcome all questions, comments, concerns, etc. Thank you for your interest!

Yes, it's true. It feels like just yesterday that I was admitted... but it's been four years. Four years, 40+ course credits, and a hundred pages of my senior essay later, I'm on the threshold of "real life," passing out of the embrace of Bright College Years. I will - write more about the Yale College Commencement 2011, our Trumbull graduation ceremony, class day, my feelings, my thoughts, my reflections... but right now I'm packing for a 3 week trip to France, Spain, and Switzerland by rail. (This all happened a few weeks ago, so what's another month of waiting?)

If you'll be in Paris, Tours, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Carcassonne, Barcelona, Bern, Luzern, Geneva, Chamonix, Annecy, or Paris (again) in the next few weeks, let me know - send an e-mail. When I get back, I'll be moving to New York in July (more details on this later...)!

Thank you to my readers who have followed me from high school to college. I hope I haven't bored you too much -- I promise college was more exciting than what ended up posted on this blog...! As always, the best new ways to follow along with me are at www.twitter.com/samjackson and occasionally at stream.samjackson.org where I tend to post tidbits more often.

I don't know what will become of this blog, but I do know that Yale has been a wonderful experience. I've grown a lot, had a tremendous time, and I'm excited for what comes next. In the meantime - I've got a lot of packing to do!

I have finished my senior essay, I've taken my last test, and I've handed in my last paper. Graduation is, essentially, inevitable. Between now and May 23rd (Commencement) I have a lot left on my plate - sitting around Yale crying and taking pictures, eating as much New Haven pizza as possible, trying to get rid of as many possessions as necessary instead of packing them - but the most important homework I've assigned myself is to complete the better part of an apartment hunt. (I'll post remedial updates on my senior essay, other things sometime soon also).

I'm going to be traveling some before Commencement, and much more afterwards (hopefully) before starting work in July. So I need to front-load this work, which basically means crawling through Craigslist and then looking forlornly at my back account statement before contacting brokers and potential landlords. There's simply too much information out there and it's really painful to sift through, especially when I'm as interested in finding a good apartment (at a semi-sane price) as I am.

I'm not one to settle for something that will leave me unhappy - not when I have to sign the long lease! The main purpose of this post, aside from ranting, is to invite any readers or visitors who have friends or might themselves personally be looking to rent an apartment to let me know if you have any good leads. I'll be working in midtown and am looking to live somewhere between midtown east and say, the east village, this sort of region; Murray Hill would be good. Feel free to comment here or e-mail me if you have any contacts or suggestions in general.

Had my last class as an undergraduate today - so hard to believe! It feels like just yesterday I was first setting foot on campus, or applying, or any of those things. I'm now just one test and one last paper away from being truly 'done,' and a few weeks away from commencement. There's barely been time to sit back and reflect, things have been so busy.

I'll post more updates soon with details about my senior essay (done!) and other things... in the meantime, here's a picture I took of some pretty flowering trees outside the School of Management.

I wrote a week ago about the farce that is Yale's collaboration with the Singaporean government to set up a liberal-arts style school there. A commenter on the YDN website shared some comparison mission statements which underscores the way in which Yale has completely abandoned its duty to try to support academic freedom and human rights on campus. While Yale-NUS has a mission statement bland and eminently pliable, other collaborations with suspect governments -- e.g. Abu Dhabi, Kuwait -- at least make a greater pretense of supporting the same freedoms that exist at the home campus. Commenter graduate_student posted the following:

I think that last line really captures the way this whole project is just being rushed through and denied the serious discussion it deserves. At the very least, there are just so many unanswered questions and empty responses from Levin or others in the administration. Really shames Yale at times like this.