Hubris and Hybrids: A Cultural History of Technology and Science

352 Pages·2005·12.1 MB·English

by  Mikael Hård, Andrew Jamison

HUBRIS HYBRIDS
AND
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HUBRIS HYBRIDS
AHD
'A Cultural History of Technology and Science
Mikael Herd
and
Andrew Jamison
I~ ~~~!~;n~~~up
NEW YORK AND LONDON
Published in 2005 by Published in Great Britain by
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
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New York, NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxon OX14 4RN
© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10987654321
International Standard Book Number-lO: 0-415-94938-6 (Hardcover) 0-415-94939-4 (Softcover)
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-94938-5 (Hardcover) 978-0-415-94939-2
(Softcover)
Library of Congress Card Number 2005001698
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Härd, Mikael.
Hubris and hybrids : a cultural history of technology and science / Mikael
Härd and Andrew Jarnison.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-415-94938-6 (hc. : alk. paper) --ISBN 0-415-94939-4
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Technology--History. 2. Science--History. I. Jarnison, Andrew.
11. Title.
T15.H342 2005
303.48'3--dc22 2005001698
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables xi
Preface Xlll
Introduction: A Need for New Stories 1
Part 1 The Roots of Technoscience
Chapter 1 The Scientific Reformation in Early Modern Europe 19
Chapter 2 The Industrial Transformation 45
Chapter 3 The Sites of Enlightenment and Innovation 71
Part 2 The Machine in the Mind
Chapter 4 Technocrats and Their Critics 97
Chapter 5 Eastern Minds Take on the Western Juggernaut 121
Chapter 6 Artistic Appropriations from Morris
to The Matrix 145
Part 3 Machines and Knowledge in Action
Chapter 7 Mobility Mania and Its Material Manifestations 171
Chapter 8 The Cultural Forms of Communication
and Information 197
Chapter 9 Public Works, Public Health, and Personal Hygiene 219
vii
viii • Contents
Part 4 Coping with Technoscience
Chapter 10 Making Technoscience Politically Accountable 245
Chapter 11 From Appropriate Technology to Green Business 269
Chapter 12 Conclusions: History as Cultural Assessment 293
Bibliography 309
Index 327
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1 The astronomer Tycho Brahe among his astranomical
instruments. Fram Tychonis Brahe Astronomiae
instauratae mechanica, 1598. 37
Figure 2 Political and cultural movements and
scientific institutions. 43
Figure 3 Young Ja mes Watt playing with steam. 50
Figure 4 Waves of industrialization and cultural critique. 56
Figure 5 An early London coffeehouse, c. 1705. 75
Figure 6 Orville Wright's flight show on TempelhofField
near Berlin 1908, organized by the newspaper
Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger. 98
Figure 7 Construction site for the Three Gorges Dam,
China, Hubei Province, c. 1990. 126
Figure 8 Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times, 1936. 159
Figure 9 Boy on street with sign, TITANIC DISASTER,
1912. 172
Figure 10 British railway station. 176
Figure 11 Runners, cars, and cyclists on racecourse, Berlin
Grunewald,1920. 183
Figure 12 Poster for Telefunken Radios, c. 1930. 209
Figure 13 "The Compulsory Bath," illustration for
Les Defauts Horribles, c. 1860. 231
ix