The following essay was first delivered as a lecture at the University of Virginia on February 1, 2013, sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and the Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures.
The first issue I wish to raise is the presence and presumed threat of technology. My position on this matter is simple. Technology, as it is now emerging, is still in a very early stage. As an instrument of university learning, it is a good thing and promising. The error is for scholars and teachers to be against it, in a Luddite fashion. Let us use and integrate it.