Mountain Biking and Technopoly
Neil Postman identifies America as the first and currently only Technopoly. Mountain biking, a sport originating and prevalent in America does not surprisingly show characteristics of Technopoly. This section is to point out examples and prove that this is the case.
Postman says:
[Technopoly has] as its aim a grand reductionism in which human life must find its meaning in machinery and technique...society is best served when human beings are placed at the disposal of their techniques and technology, that human beings are, in a sense, worth less than their machinery.
Postman 52
When two mountain bikers meet for the first, almost always their first words will be the type of bike that they have. Not only does the describing of ones bike invoke a certain sense of pride, knowing what the other person's bike is will cause inferences into the type and quality of rider that they are. If the bike is a full-suspension, double crowned, beefy frame, disc brake sort of bike, one will automatically assume downhill rider. If the bike is a light weight, air shock, hard-tail bike one will think cross-country. The manufacturer of the bike invokes a sense of technological quality. If a bike were a Marin or Gary Fisher where the price is over a thousand dollars, one assumes the rider to be of the quality of the bike.
For most riders, upgrades are always on their minds of things to do. Upgrading means getting the most technologically sound components on the bike to make the rider better. Finding a new component that makes the bike 15 grams lighter is better than taking that time spent and training. There is a strong reliance on technology to improve the rider.
Not only does the technology of the bike act as a signifier of the level of rider, but in many ways it actually dictates the style of riding. Paths, speed, aggressiveness, style of riding in general will often not depend on the ability of the rider, but rather the confidence the rider has in their bike. The easier path may be taken until the new carbon composite handlebars are installed, or when a fall happens the excuse may be, "if I had that new kind of clipless pedal I could have made it over that jump." In this way the rider mentally limits what they can do because of the faith in technology. The faith that if one has the technology then it can be done; if one doesn't then it is impossible.
Efficiency is an important aspect of Technopoly. Postman describes efficiency in this sense as it is the goal of human labor and thought. Efficiency, a quantitative description, utilizes that "technical calculation is in all respects superior to human judgment; that in fact human judgment cannot be trusted" (Postman 51). This aspect has well infiltrated mountain biking and often in a detrimental sense. Efficiency is typically defined as the energy output divided by the work put in. Therefore, to increase efficiency the work put in needs to be minimized. For mountain biking, one translation of this is minimizing weight. The problem with the reliance on reducing weight to increase efficiency is that it results in some catastrophic failures and human injury. By removing judgment from the decision making process, style of riding and weight of rider are not considered. An extremely light-weight component may be installed when it is not appropriate for the rider. It is unfortunately not uncommon to hear of handlebars breaking and severely injuring the rider.