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Inside Technology Ser.: Knowing Machines : Essays on Technical Change by Donald MacKenzie (1998, Trade Paperback)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherMIT Press

ISBN-100262631881

ISBN-139780262631884

eBay Product ID (ePID)67010

Product Key Features

Number of Pages350 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameKnowing Machines : Essays on Technical Change

SubjectSocial Aspects, History

Publication Year1998

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaTechnology & Engineering

AuthorDonald Mackenzie

SeriesInside Technology Ser.

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight16.6 Oz

Item Length8.9 in

Item Width6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

Reviews"The essays collected in Knowing Machinesare enormously impressive: for the quality of the scholarship, for their wide range and for what they indicate about Donald MacKenzie's grasp of the demanding technical issues under discussion." -Steven Yearley, Times Literary Supplement

Dewey Edition21

Grade FromCollege Graduate Student

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal306.4/6

SynopsisRanging from broad inquiries into the roles of economics and sociology in the explanation of technological change to an argument for the possibility of uninventing nuclear weapons, this selection of Donald MacKenzie's essays provides a solid introduction to the style and the substance of the sociology of technology. The essays are tied together by their explorations of connections (primarily among technology, society, and knowledge) and by their general focus on modern high technology. They also share an emphasis on the complexity of technological formation and fixation and on the role of belief (especially self-validating belief) in technological change. Two of the articles won major prizes on their original journal publication, and all but one date from 1991 or later. A substantial new introduction outlines the common themes underlying this body of work and places it in the context of recent debates in technology studies. Two conceptual essays are followed by seven empirical essays focusing on the laser gyroscopes that are central to modern aircraft navigation technology, supercomputers (with a particular emphasis on their use in the design of nuclear weapons), the application of mathematical proof in the design of computer systems, computer-related accidental deaths, and the nature of the knowledge that is needed to design a nuclear bomb., Ranging from broad inquiries into the roles of economics and sociology in the explanation of technological change to an argument for the possibility of "uninventing" nuclear weapons, this selection of Donald MacKenzie's essays provides a solid introduction to the style and the substance of the sociology of technology. The essays are tied together by their explorations of connections (primarily among technology, society, and knowledge) and by their general focus on modern "high" technology. They also share an emphasis on the complexity of technological formation and fixation and on the role of belief (especially self-validating belief) in technological change. Two of the articles won major prizes on their original journal publication, and all but one date from 1991 or later. A substantial new introduction outlines the common themes underlying this body of work and places it in the context of recent debates in technology studies. Two conceptual essays are followed by seven empirical essays focusing on the laser gyroscopes that are central to modern aircraft navigation technology, supercomputers (with a particular emphasis on their use in the design of nuclear weapons), the application of mathematical proof in the design of computer systems, computer-related accidental deaths, and the nature of the knowledge that is needed to design a nuclear bomb.

LC Classification NumberPR9199.3.M325.M32