Human-Built World

2005-05-13 Technology & Engineering

Author : Thomas P. Hughes
Release : 2005-05-13
Genre : Technology & Engineering
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 66X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Human-Built World by : Thomas P. Hughes

Download or read book Human-Built World written by Thomas P. Hughes. This book was released on 2005-05-13. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To most people, technology has been reduced to computers, consumer goods, and military weapons; we speak of "technological progress" in terms of RAM and CD-ROMs and the flatness of our television screens. In Human-Built World, thankfully, Thomas Hughes restores to technology the conceptual richness and depth it deserves by chronicling the ideas about technology expressed by influential Western thinkers who not only understood its multifaceted character but who also explored its creative potential. Hughes draws on an enormous range of literature, art, and architecture to explore what technology has brought to society and culture, and to explain how we might begin to develop an "ecotechnology" that works with, not against, ecological systems. From the "Creator" model of development of the sixteenth century to the "big science" of the 1940s and 1950s to the architecture of Frank Gehry, Hughes nimbly charts the myriad ways that technology has been woven into the social and cultural fabric of different eras and the promises and problems it has offered. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, optimistically hoped that technology could be combined with nature to create an Edenic environment; Lewis Mumford, two centuries later, warned of the increasing mechanization of American life. Such divergent views, Hughes shows, have existed side by side, demonstrating the fundamental idea that "in its variety, technology is full of contradictions, laden with human folly, saved by occasional benign deeds, and rich with unintended consequences." In Human-Built World, he offers the highly engaging history of these contradictions, follies, and consequences, a history that resurrects technology, rightfully, as more than gadgetry; it is in fact no less than an embodiment of human values.

EBOOK: Science, Technology and Culture

2005-11-16 Social Science

Author : David Bell
Release : 2005-11-16
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 199/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis EBOOK: Science, Technology and Culture by : David Bell

Download or read book EBOOK: Science, Technology and Culture written by David Bell. This book was released on 2005-11-16. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lifestyle media – books, magazines, websites, radio andtelevision shows that focus on topics such as cookery,gardening, travel and home improvement – have witnessed anexplosion in recent years. Ordinary Lifestyles explores how popular media texts bring ideasabout taste and fashion to consumers, helping audiences tofashion their lifestyles as well as defining what constitutes anappropriate lifestyle for particular social groups. Contemporaryexamples are used throughout, including Martha Stewart, HouseDoctor, What Not to Wear, You Are What You Eat, CountryLiving and brochures for gay and lesbian holiday promotions. The contributors show that watching make-over television orcooking from a celebrity chef’s book are significant culturalpractices, through which we work on our ideas about taste,status and identity. In opening up the complex processes whichshape our taste and forge individual and collective identities,lifestyle media demand our serious attention, as well as ourviewing, reading and listening pleasure. Ordinary Lifestyles is essential reading for students on mediaand cultural studies courses, and for anyone intrigued by theinfluence of the media on our day-to-day lives. Contributors: David Bell, Manchester Metropolitan University; Frances Bonner, University of Queensland, Australia; Steven Brown, Loughborough University; Fan Carter, Kingston University; Stephen Duncombe, Gallatin School of New York University, USA; David Dunn; Johannah Fahey, Monash University, Australia; Elizabeth Bullen, Deakin University, Australia; Jane Kenway, Monash University, Australia; Robert Fish, University of Exeter; Danielle Gallegos, Murdoch University, Australia; Mark Gibson; David B. Goldstein, University of Tulsa, USA; Ruth Holliday, University of Leeds; Joanne Hollows, Nottingham Trent University; Felicity Newman; Tim O’Sullivan, De Montfort University; Elspeth Probyn; Rachel Russell, University of Sydney, Australia; Lisa Taylor; Melissa Tyler; Gregory Woods, Nottingham Trent University.

Science, Culture and Society

2016-09-12 Science

Author : Mark Erickson
Release : 2016-09-12
Genre : Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 242/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Science, Culture and Society by : Mark Erickson

Download or read book Science, Culture and Society written by Mark Erickson. This book was released on 2016-09-12. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science occupies an ambiguous space in contemporary society. Scientific research is championed in relation to tackling environmental issues and diseases such as cancer and dementia, and science has made important contributions to today’s knowledge economies and knowledge societies. And yet science is considered by many to be remote, and even dangerous. It seems that as we have more science, we have less understanding of what science actually is. The new edition of this popular text redresses this knowledge gap and provides a novel framework for making sense of science, particularly in relation to contemporary social issues such as climate change. Using real-world examples, Mark Erickson explores what science is and how it is carried out, what the relationship between science and society is, how science is represented in contemporary culture, and how scientific institutions are structured. Throughout, the book brings together sociology, science and technology studies, cultural studies and philosophy to provide a far-reaching understanding of science and technology in the twenty-first century. Fully updated and expanded in its second edition, Science, Culture and Society will continue to be key reading on courses across the social sciences and humanities that engage with science in its social and cultural context.

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