Technological Utopianism in American Culture

Technological Utopianism in American Culture
Author: Howard P. Segal
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2005-11-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780815630616

Featuring twenty-five writers in all, this book includes Howard P. Segal's acclaimed work on utopian visionaries.

Technology

Technology
Author: Eric Schatzberg
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2018-11-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 022658397X

In modern life, technology is everywhere. Yet as a concept, technology is a mess. In popular discourse, technology is little more than the latest digital innovations. Scholars do little better, offering up competing definitions that include everything from steelmaking to singing. In Technology: Critical History of a Concept, Eric Schatzberg explains why technology is so difficult to define by examining its three thousand year history, one shaped by persistent tensions between scholars and technical practitioners. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, scholars have tended to hold technicians in low esteem, defining technical practices as mere means toward ends defined by others. Technicians, in contrast, have repeatedly pushed back against this characterization, insisting on the dignity, creativity, and cultural worth of their work. ​The tension between scholars and technicians continued from Aristotle through Francis Bacon and into the nineteenth century. It was only in the twentieth century that modern meanings of technology arose: technology as the industrial arts, technology as applied science, and technology as technique. Schatzberg traces these three meanings to the present day, when discourse about technology has become pervasive, but confusion among the three principal meanings of technology remains common. He shows that only through a humanistic concept of technology can we understand the complex human choices embedded in our modern world.

Technocracy and the American Dream

Technocracy and the American Dream
Author: William E. Akin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 1977
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780520031104

This study focuses on the genesis and development of the Technocrats' philosophy, and describes the movement's initial popularity in 1932 abd 1933, and its rapid decline as a result of the Technocrats' failure to develop a political philosophy which could reconcile their technological aristocracy with democracy.

The Machine in the Garden

The Machine in the Garden
Author: Leo Marx
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780195133516

By examining the difference between pastoral and progressive ideals that characterised early 20th century American culture, the author shows how American thinkers have considered the relationship between technology and culture in their writings.

Justifying Ballistic Missile Defence

Justifying Ballistic Missile Defence
Author: Columba Peoples
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521113296

Examines the ways in which views of technology have been used in debates over ballistic missile defence.

The Natural Sciences and American Scientists in the Revolutionary Era

The Natural Sciences and American Scientists in the Revolutionary Era
Author: Katalin Harkanyi
Publisher: Greenwood
Total Pages: 544
Release: 1990-11-26
Genre: History
ISBN:

The years 1760 to 1789 mark the political birth of the United States; simultaneously, an emancipation of American scientific endeavor from the influence of England and Europe was taking place. This is especially evident in the area of natural sciences--the growing frontiers and population of America opened up vast areas to scientific scrutiny. This extensive bibliography commemorates the scholarship that was published in many forms by and about Revolutionary American science from 1760 through the twentieth century. Part one of Katalin Harkanyi's work provides an overview of the natural sciences in the Revolutionary Era. Comprehensive and general sources are listed in the fields of natural history (botany, zoology, agriculture, and geology), natural philosophy (mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, surveying, engineering, and architecture), and medicine (dentistry, pharmacology, and veterinary medicine). Included are journals, documents, biographies, bibliographies, histories, orations, and even travel journals and diaries which create a framework for the study of Revolutionary American science. The second part of this bibliography is devoted to the scientists themselves: the men and women who wrote partial or specific scientific studies. This section of the book shows that these early Americans were capable of remarkable investigations into the natural world, rivaling their European contemporaries. Here are listed the scientists, their extant monographic works, and studies written about them from their age into the twentieth century. Appendices include scientific firsts and special achievements of Revolutionary Americans and a list of scientists arranged by discipline. This book will be a useful guide for historians and scientists, as well as inquiring general readers, who want to know more about the early growth of American science.