Information Technology in a Democracy

502 Pages·1971·7.394 MB·English

by  Westin, Alan F.

Information Technology
in a Democracy
Harvard Studies in Technology and Society
The volumes in this series present the results of studies conducted at the
Harvard University Program on Technology and Society. The Program
was established in 1964 by a grant from the International Business Ma-
chines Corporation to undertake an inquiry in depth into the effects of
technological change on the economy, on public policies, and on the
character of the society, as well as into the reciprocal effects of social
progress on the nature, dimensions, and direction of scientific and tech-
nological developments.
Volumes in the Series
Anthony G. Oettinger with Sema Marks, Run, Computer, Run: The
Mythology of Educational Innovation, 1969
Emmanuel G. Mesthene, Technological Change: Its Impact on Man and
Society, 1970
Anne P. Carter, Structural Change in the American Economy, 1970
Robin Marris and Adrian Wood, editors, The Corporate Economy:
Growth, Competition, and Innovative Potential, 1971
Alan F. Westin, editor, Information Technology in a Democracy, 1971
Information Technology
in a Democracy
EDITED BY ALAN F. WESTIN
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
1971
© Copyright 1971 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Distributed in Great Britain by Oxford University Press, London
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-143233
SBN 674-45435-9
Printed in the United States of America
Preface
This collection grows out of a larger study on the use of information
technology by American government, on which I have been working since
1967 under the auspices of the Harvard Program on Technology and
Society. The Program has done all the nurturing things that an intellectu-
ally oriented center can do for scholars, such as supplying stipends, re-
search assistance, travel funds, and secretarial aid. But the deepest value to
me has been the climate of argumentative inquiry provided through con-
tinuous discussions with the Program's Director, Emmanuel G. Mesthene,
its Associate Director, Juergen Schmandt, and the Head of the Pro-
gram's Information Center, Irene Taviss. My evolving ideas on informa-
tion technology have been presented also at informal meetings with
scholars working in the Program; this has saved me from committing
more than my fair share of mistakes, and leaves me in the debt of Harvey
Brooks, David Landes, Seymour Lipset, John Meyer, Anthony Oettinger,
and Richard Rosenbloom.
In collecting and preparing the materials on which this reader is based,
I was greatly aided by Ellen Schroeder and Mary O'Melveny, who served
as research assistants on the larger project. For reading the next-to-last
version of this collection and helping me reorganize it "one last time," I
am grateful to Julie Heilman. Typing aid in the final stages of the manu-
script was provided by Katie Sullivan, last-minute searches of periodicals
by Marjory Karukin, and work on galleys by Lorene Cox, Rita Harris,
and Gladys Cooper. For great help in the final editing process, I am
indebted to Stanley Dry, the Harvard Program's Associate for Publi-
cations.
ν
PREFACE
In assembling this book, I have chosen pieces of writing that seemed
to me to exemplify the main currents of opinion in each area being
treated. This has often meant having to select one or two pieces from
among many excellent statements of a particular position, relegating the
parallel commentaries to the bibliography. Each piece has been edited to
minimize repetition of factual, technical, or political discussions within
this collection. Rather than have the book continually spattered with dots
to indicate such deletions, I have obtained permission from most of the
individual authors to omit such editorial stigmata. Each such author
received a copy of the selection as it had been edited and gave permission
for its use in that form. A few authors wished the omissions specifically
noted, and, of course, this has been done with their selections.
Alan F. Westin
New York
September 1970
vi
Contents
Prologue: Of Technological Visions and Demo-
cratic Politics Alan F. Westin 1
I. Descriptions of the Developing Systems by
Their Advocates 13
Introduction 15
A. The Databank and Information Systems Route
Detroit's Social Data Bank Harold Black and
Edward Shaw 30
The "LOGIC" Information System Santa Clara County,
California 35
The New York State Identification and Intelligence System
Robert R. J. Gallati 40
The United Planning Organization's Social Databank
Edward M. Brooks 47
B. The Management Science Route
PLANNING, PROGRAMMING, AND BUDGETING SYSTEMS (PPB)
PPB and Vietnam Alain Enthoven 55
PPB in New York State Daniel J. Alesch 59
PPB in Cities Selma Mushkin 63
vii
CONTENTS
Program Budgeting for the State Department
John Diebold 69
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH
Systems Analysis in East Lansing G. Michael Conlisk 76
Systems Analysis in the Pentagon Alain Enthoven 81
Putting Operations Research to Work Philip M. Morse 86
The Systems Approach to Social Problems Simon Ramo 93
Congress Needs the Systems Approach
Robert L. Chartrand 99
THE CORPORATE CONSULTANTS
System Development Corporation SDC Brochure 105
TRW Systems TRW Brochure 126
The RAND Projects in New York City S. M. Genensky 131
California Hires the Aerospace Companies
Edmund Brown 139
II. "Control Technology" in a Democracy: The
Broad Socio-Political Debate 147
Introduction 149
How Technology Will Shape the Future
Emmanuel G. Mesthene 152
Moving into a Technetronic Society Zbigniew Brzezinski 161
The Great Refusal of Technetronic Society
Arthur P. Mendel 168
Technology's Uninvited Guests Robert Strausz-Hup0 175
Policy Problems of a Data-Rich Civilization
Harold D. Lasswell 187
Humanizing a Technological Society Erich Fromm 198
The Need for New Constitutional Controls W. H. Ferry 207
Computing Power in Real Time Cornelius E. Gallagher 214
A Public Philosophy for Real Time Information Systems
Harold Sackman 222
III. The Information Function in Organizational
Decision-Making 237
Introduction 239
viii
CONTENTS
Information Systems and Social Knowledge
Ithiel de Sola Pool, Stuart Mcintosh, and David Griffel 241
A Bull's Eye View of Information Systems
Anthony G. Oettinger 250
Management Misinformation Systems Russell Ackoff 264
Distinguishing Statistical and Intelligence Systems
Edgar Dunn 272
The Road from Information to Knowledge
Harold L. Wilensky 277
IV. Emerging Information Systems: The Policy
Debates 287
Introduction 289
A. Databanks
Democratic Participation and Technological Planning
Donald N. Michael 291
Civil Liberties Issues in Public Databanks Alan F. Westin 301
The Political Payoffs in Urban Information Systems
Anthony Downs 311
Why There Are No Urban Information Systems Yet
Oliver E. Dial 322
A Model for Urban Information Systems
Kenneth L. Kraemer 328
Trends and Directions for Urban Information Systems
Myron E. Weiner 336
B. Management Science Techniques
The New Systems Budgeting Bertram M. Gross 357
PPB for Police Forces Editors of the Yale Law Journal 375
PPB and the Complexities of Foreign Affairs
Thomas Schelling 383
Two-and-a-Half Cheers for Systems Analysis
James Schlesinger 395
When California System-Analyzed the Welfare Problem
Ida R. Hoos 409
ix
CONTENTS
Systems of Power and the Power of Systems
Robert Boguslaw 419
Defense Systems Approaches in the Civil Sector
University of Denver Research Institute 432
Systems Experts: Foxes in the Henhouse Ida R. Hoos 444
The Cities Can't Pay for Aerospace Work
William H. Mitchel 451
Systems Analysis and the Liberal Establishment
Thomas M. Conrad 456
Bibliography 463
Index 483
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