Men, Machines, and Modern Times (The MIT Press) - Softcover

Elting E. Morison; Rosalind Williams; Leo Marx

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262529319 ISBN 13: 9780262529310

Publisher: MIT Press, 2016

Synopsis

An engaging look at how we have learned to live with innovation and new technologies through history.

People have had trouble adapting to new technology ever since (perhaps) the inventor of the wheel had to explain that a wheelbarrow could carry more than a person. This little book by a celebrated MIT professor―the fiftieth anniversary edition of a classic―describes how we learn to live and work with innovation. Elting Morison considers, among other things, the three stages of users' resistance to change: ignoring it; rational rebuttal; and name-calling. He recounts the illustrative anecdote of the World War II artillerymen who stood still to hold the horses despite the fact that the guns were now hitched to trucks―reassuring those of us who have trouble with a new interface or a software upgrade that we are not the first to encounter such problems.

Morison offers an entertaining series of historical accounts to highlight his major theme: the nature of technological change and society's reaction to that change. He begins with resistance to innovation in the U.S. Navy following an officer's discovery of a more accurate way to fire a gun at sea; continues with thoughts about bureaucracy, paperwork, and card files; touches on rumble seats, the ghost in Hamlet, and computers; tells the strange history of a new model steamship in the 1860s; and describes the development of the Bessemer steel process. Each instance teaches a lesson about the more profound and current problem of how to organize and manage systems of ideas, energies, and machinery so that it will conform to the human dimension.

About this title

About the Author

<DIV>Elting Morison (1909– 1995) was an American historian of technology, biographer, author, and essayist. A professor at MIT for many years, he founded MIT's program in Science, Technology, and Society.</DIV><br /><br /><DIV>Rosalind Williams is Bern Dibner Professor of the History of Science and Technology.</DIV><br /><br /><DIV>Leo Marx is Senior Lecturer and Kenan Professor of American Cultural History, Emeritus, at MIT.</DIV>

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262529319
• ISBN 13: 9780262529310
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344