The Real World of Technology (Massey Lectures Series.)

Rating:
Summary: Should be mandatory reading for anyone in the sciences
Review: This book illuminates the complex relationship between technology and society. A dangerous attitude among people in the sciences (and the arts) is that inventions are neutral, and society uses them for good or for evil. This book illustrates how it is much more complicated than that, and we should avoid being idealistic about technology.

The author shows how peoples' motives and attitudes can actually be embedded within the technology *itself*, and impossible to pull out after the technology has been implemented. It also shows how various technologies can have side-effects on society, changing people's attitudes. The belief that technology is born pure and then used for ideological goals is misleading.

Technology (not just man) has had an important role in the early emergence of a burocracy in China, startling psychological effects of the evening news, and racial segregation in the United States. You'll have to read it to appreciate the power behind these conclusions.

However, this book is not anti-technology, nor is it proclaiming an apocalypse. It offers real insights into how we must be aware of sociological and philosophical issues BEFORE we expand technological frontiers. Those in the sciences must stop saying "that's not my responsibility, I only invented it."

As well, people on the whole will be more aware of subtle side-effects of technology, allowing them to reap the intended benefits of technology in a more direct way. I repeat, this book is not anti-science. It is quite scientific and balanced in its arguments. I highly recommend it.