The Machine in Me: An Anthropologist Sits Among Computer Engineers [Hardcover]

Gary Lee Downey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0415920213 | ISBN-13: 978-0415920216 | Edition: 1

In his remarkable ethnography of computer engineers, Gary Downey investigates the interface between the human body and the machine. Drawing on interviews, observations and personal interaction with engineers, Downey documents the everyday power of technologys dominant image in our society. Downey argues that we need to appreciate how deeply connected we are to The Machine, and that it would be hugely beneficial if we could understand ourselves and machines as partially configured of the other - we as part machines, machines as part humans. In this way, we can begin to see both the power and the limitations of technology.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[T]his book makes an important contribution to the larger project of theorizing the relationship between technology and society. Downey prods readers to rethink the cultural boundary between technology and humanity and focuses much-needed attention on the dynamics of technology-in-use.
–Technology and Culture

[A]musing and insightful observations about industry trade shows, sharp criticism of the national rhetoric of productivity in the United States in the 1980s.
–Technology and Culture

About the Author

Gary Lee Downey is Director of the Center for Science and Technology Studies at Virginia Tech.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (July 7, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415920213
• ISBN-13: 978-0415920216
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,871,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars In search of an audience, March 28, 2001

By 

Christine Hoff Kraemer (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Machine in Me: An Anthropologist Sits Among Computer Engineers (Paperback)

On reading Downey's book, I was hard-pressed to tell exactly what kind of audience _The Machine In Me_ was aiming for. Too technical for most anthropologists and too loaded with anthropological jargon for most technology types, _The Machine In Me_ seems to fit only the narrow field of anthropological technology studies, thus depriving related audiences (general cultural anthropologists and techies) of its many interesting insights. Downey's examination of how a class of engineering students struggled, interacted, and in some ways became part of the CAD/CAM software with which they worked was fascinating. His success in communicating his sometimes complex observations about the social dynamics of technological fields and the nature of the students' relationships with the software, however, are obscured by unnecessarily complex and roundabout prose. Downey is left talking about "transcribing human agency into technology" without ever employing the clearly appropriate term "cyborg." In fact, Downey's book is unmistakably a work in the burgeoning field of cyborg anthropology, yet the book avoids all mention of the term. The end result, I think, is a book without a clearly defined audience, one that refuses to position itself inside a discipline and therefore is likely to be passed over by those who would benefit most from it.