Visions Of Technology: A Century Of Vital Debate About Machines Systems And The Human World [Paperback]

Richard Rhodes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0684863111 | ISBN-13: 978-0684863115 | Publication Date: December 7, 2000 | Edition: 1st Touchstone Ed

Technology was the blessing and the bane of the twentieth century. Human life span nearly doubled in the West, but in no century were more human beings killed by new technologies of war. Improvements in agriculture now feed increasing billions, but pesticides and chemicals threaten to poison the earth. Does technology improve us or diminish us? Enslave us or make us free? With this first-ever collection of the essential twentieth-century writings on technology, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes explores the optimism, ambivalence, and wrongheaded judgments with which Americans have faced an ever-shifting world.

Visions of Technology collects writings on events from the Great Exposition of 1900 and the invention of the telegraph to the advent of genetic counseling and the defeat of Garry Kasparov by IBM's chess-playing computer, Deep Blue. Its gems of opinion and history include Henry Ford on the horseless carriage, Robert Caro on the transformation of New York City, J. Robert Oppenheimer on science and war, Loretta Lynn on the Pill and much more. Together, they chronicle an unprecedented century of change.

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st Touchstone Ed edition (December 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684863111
• ISBN-13: 978-0684863115
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,369,773 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.