Civilizing the Machine


Book Description

A major theme in American history has been the desire to achieve a genuinely republican way of life that values liberty, order, and virtue. This work shows us how new technologies affected this drive for a republican civilization - a question as vital now as ever.




Technology and American Society


Book Description

Providing a global perspective on the development of American technology, Technology and American Society offers a historical narrative detailing major technological transformations over the last three centuries. With coverage devoted to both dramatic breakthroughs and incremental innovations, authors Gary Cross and Rick Szostak analyze the cause-and-effect relationship of technological change and its role in the constant drive for improvement and modernization. This fully-updated 3rd edition extends coverage of industry, home, office, agriculture, transport, constructions, and services into the twenty-first century, concluding with a new chapter on recent electronic and technological advances. Technology and American Society remains the ideal introduction to the myriad interactions of technological advancement with social, economic, cultural, and military change throughout the course of American history.




Technology & American History


Book Description

Technology and American History explores the technological dimension of American life from the birth of American industry in the late eighteenth century to the massive industrial systems of the late-twentieth century. Emphasizing a societal context for technology, this carefully-organized collection demonstrates both the manner in which cultural, political, and economic forces shape innovation, and the ways that technology has influenced society and shaped its values. Individual essays explore the importance of textile manufacturing in American industrialization, the role of the federal government in regulating new modes of transport, the development of interchangeable parts in production, the process of innovation, the notion of technological systems, and the relationship between technological change and work in the factory, on the farm, and in the home. This collection will be extremely useful for faculty and students in undergraduate survey courses in the history of American technology as well as interdisciplinary science, technology and society courses. In addition, general readers will find this collection accessible and engaging.




Toward Century 21


Book Description

Lectures and discussions first given at Stanford University in 1968.




Values and the Future


Book Description




Technology in America


Book Description

Now in a thoroughly updated new edition, this successful textbook surveys the history of technology in America from the 1600s to the 21st century. Alan I Marcus and Howard P. Segal explore the effect society, culture, politics and economics have had upon technological advances, and place the evolution of American technology within the broader context of the development of systems such as transportation and communications. This unique book connects phenomena such as colonial printing presses with the American Revolution; early photographs with the creation of an allegedly unique American character; and high-tech advances in biotechnology with a growing desire for individual autonomy. This is an ideal resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of the history of technology, the history of science, and American history.




America's Values


Book Description

The American society has changed dramatically since the two World War ended. Grab a copy today to find out more! This book is a narrative of the changes in America's values, primarily since WWII. When atomic bombs announced the arrival of science that challenged the security of Newtonian mechanics and as technology distracted us from the importance of ethics and morality, we abandoned or redefined our traditional goals. As we became aware that what we call knowledge is merely an acceptable and useful idea and not a substantial truth, we grow anxious. I offer no absolute plan, but a direction. I intend to reveal some of the many strands of our confusion and thus help clarify the issues that divide us. It is not my intention to tell you what to think but to give you concrete examples to think about. Each chapter focuses on a specific face of American life; together they present a narrative of America's current social dilemma. Like all stories, my book has an "exposition" (Not Too Long Ago, People Knew What They Were About), a "complication" (Then, They Succumbed to the Lures of Technology and Materialism, a "rising action" (And Fell Victim to the Conflicts of the Times), a "climax" (Finally, They Experienced A Fundamental Revolution in Knowledge), a "falling action" (Therefore, We Need to Retool our Minds), and a "resolution" (And to Reestablish Grounded Values). American history, then, especially since WWII, is a dramatic illustration of our ideas about knowledge, ignorance, and faith. It also reveals the confusion rooted in our denial of the paradoxical nature of reality, and by our casual disregard of mortality







Philosophy and Technology


Book Description

Only recently has the phenomenon of technology become an object of in terest for philosophers. The first attempts at a philosophy of technology date back scarcely a hundred years - a span of time extremely short when com pared with the antiquity of philosophical reflections on nature, science, and society. Over that hundred-year span, speculative, critical, and empiricist approaches of various sorts have been put forward. Nevertheless, even now there remains a broad gap between the importance of technology in the real world and the sparse number of philosophical works dedicated to the under standing of modern technology. As a result of the complex structure of modern technology, it can be dealt with in very different ways. These range from metaphysical exposition to efforts aimed at political consensus. Quite naturally, within such a broad range, certain national accents can be discovered-; they are shaped by a com mon language, accepted philosophical traditions, and concrete problems requiring consideration. Even so, the worldwide impact of technology, its penetration into all spheres of individual, social, and cultural life, together with the urgency of the problems raised in this context - all these demand a joint philosophical discussion that transcends the barriers of language and cultural differences. The papers printed here are intended to exemplify such an effort at culture-transcending philosophical discussion.