VISIONS OF TECHNOLOGY: A Century Of Vital Debate About Machines Systems And The Human World (Sloan Technology) [Hardcover]

Richard Rhodes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0684839032 | ISBN-13: 978-0684839035 | Publication Date: March 4, 1999 | Edition: First Edition

Technology has been the blessing and the bane of the 20th Century. Human life-span has nearly doubled in the West, but no century ever killed more human beings with new technologies than this. New technology became part of the machine of war, ranging from the staggering loss of life of the First World War to the media spectacle which brought the war in the Gulf into our living rooms. Improvements in agriculture have fed increasing billions, but now pesticides and chemicals threaten to poison the Earth. Richard Rhodes attempts to answer some fundamental questions arising from the prominence which technology plays in all of our lives. These problems and paradoxes have stirred impassioned debate, yet despite the central role technology has played in this century, VISIONS OF TECHNOLOGY is the first book to represent the rich diversity of commentary about this vital subject. This provocative treasury hightlights the views of the century's most prominent technological figures from Henry Ford, H.G. Wells, Rachel Carson and Albert Einstein to Aldous Huxley and John Glenn. As the cultural ambivalence towards technology takes us into the next century, Richard Rhodes provides a timely forum of debate about machines, systems and the human world.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Technological wariness is an enduring disturbance, with roots in religion," writes popular-science interpreter Rhodes in his introduction to this welcome anthology of 20th-century scientific invention. "Prometheus stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humans carries the sense of it; so does the serpent persuading Eve to taste the knowledgeable apple, and the Jewish myth of the Golem, a Frankenstein's monster animated by incorporations of holy words." Gods and monsters abound in these pages, made up of excerpts from essays, reports, articles, and speeches by both inventors and their critics. Rhodes includes, for instance, a worried editorial from 1931 by the journalist Floyd Allport, who presciently noted the community-destroying effects of technological advances such as the private car and the telephone; he also reproduces any number of warnings from the likes of Aldous Huxley, Vannevar Bush, and Edward Abbey that humankind's scientific imagination far outstrips our moral capacity. Joining these jeremiads in Rhodes's pages are more optimistic assessments, including Intel Corporation founder Gordon Moore's famous formulation, from 1965, that "the complexity of integrated circuits has approximately doubled every year since their introduction," whereas "cost per function has decreased several thousand-fold"--which explains why personal computers, among other items, have become increasingly more powerful and yet less expensive. Anyone interested in the development of 20th-century science, applied or theoretical, will delight in Rhodes's collection. --Gregory McNamee

From Scientific American

"The Western world has argued passionately about technology--what it is, where it's going, whether it's good or bad for us--throughout the twentieth century, even while inventing it at a ferocious and accelerating rate," Rhodes writes. "This anthology samples that vital debate." Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, excerpts the writings of many people who either helped to develop technology or pondered its impact; his selections make rewarding reading. He begins with journalist Mark Sullivan, pointing out in the 1920s that the words "radio," "movie" and "aviator" were unknown in 1900, and he carries on with 213 more contributions from both well-known and obscure observers of the technological scene. The book is part of the Sloan Technology Series of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (March 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684839032
• ISBN-13: 978-0684839035
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,103,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Look at where we were and where we might be going, October 30, 2003

By 

Keith Appleyard "kapple999" (Brighton, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: VISIONS OF TECHNOLOGY: A Century Of Vital Debate About Machines Systems And The Human World (Sloan Technology) (Hardcover)

This is not a run of the mill anthology of 20th Century scientific thinking and predictions. This a many and varied collection of articles, some so short as to only occupy a few lines, whilst some run to 2 or 3 pages.
Some of them are ironic, such as predictions that never came to pass (eg Spiro Agnew on Supersonic flight), whilst others transpire to be very omniscient in their warnings for the future (concerns about the 'O' rings on the Space Shuttle 6 months before Challenger exploded).

Well worth a read to look back at where we were, consider where we've come to, and where we might be going.

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking technology history, September 24, 2009

By 

Technology Prof (Poughkeepsie, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visions Of Technology: A Century Of Vital Debate About Machines Systems And The Human World (Paperback)

This book has been required reading for the Technology and Society course I teach for more than five years. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't go out of print because it presents a wonderful view of the development of technology during the 20th century, in the voices of those who lived it. The short vignettes are engaging and even college seniors in their final semester can't put it down. It should be great for casual reading as well. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent selection of technology-related articles., March 17, 2001

By 

Alejandro Navarrete Torres - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visions Of Technology: A Century Of Vital Debate About Machines Systems And The Human World (Paperback)

Richard Rhodes presents a chronological collection of technology-related articles, written during the 20th century. Since we are born into an "already-made" technological world, I found it revealing to get the perspective from people who lived at the time these inventions and findings were made. It is surprising to realize that many of the concerns about techology development shown by people at those days are still in the minds of individuals today.

It is not only interesting and instructive to read about how technology has developed during the past century, but it also makes us evaluate how technology affects us and, to some extent, defines the way we think and do things today.

I particularly liked the idea of having several short articles (1 to 4 pages each) written by a large variety of people. This structure lets you read several articles in a row and pick up your reading after several days, without loosing the overall picture.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing a little more on how technology has developed through the eyes of both people who worked on it and people who lived the inmediate consecuences of it. I think it is a excellent source for analysis for people in the area of Philosophy of Science.