Science, Technology, & Society in the

20th Century

Technology and Society in the 20th Century

Technology is central in war and peace.

The changes in change in structure, methods, and scope led to an increased production of technology.

There is remake in man’s way of life all over the globe.

There are three separate aspects:

1. Structural Changes the professionalization, specialization, and

institutionalization of technological work

2. Changes in Methods the new relationship between technology and science

3. The “Systems Approach”

The Structure of Technological Work

Technological activity (19th

century) is craft. This is done by individuals alone and without much formal education.

By the 20th century, the technological activity has become highly specialized and thoroughly professional.

The 19th century:A. Formal Education

Typical inventor: a mechanic starting at age 14 years old or below Notable people consider themselves as mechanics and inventors

B. Technology–University BuildingsUniversities

a. Ecole Polytechniqueb. California Institute of Technology

Peoplea. Henry Fordb. Wright Brothers

Technically educated man with the college degree began to assume leadership about the time of World War I.

Technological work since 1940, as primarily been done by men who were educated in universities and degrees eventually became prerequisites for technological work.

Charles Franklin Kettering: inventive genius of General Motors Electric self-starter

(automobiles) Non-toxic freezing

compound (refrigeration) Tetra-ethyl lead (high-

performance automobile and aircraft engine)

Specialists in Invention Thomas Edison Werner von Siemens

Justus von Liebig George Westinghouse

Emile Berliner Edwin H. Land

LaboratoriesA. Size of a laboratory has no relation to its research and its results; it

needs: exclusive interest in research, discovery, and innovation brings together men from a wide area of disciplines embodies a new methodology of technological work squarely

based on the systematic application of science to technology

B. Strength of laboratories: “specialist” and “generalist”

What distinguishes today's research laboratory from any predecessor is, first, its exclusive interest in research, discovery, and innovation.

Secondly, the research laboratory brings together men from a wide area of disciplines, each contributing his specialized knowledge.

Finally, the research laboratory embodies a new methodology of technological work squarely based on the systematic application of science to technology.

The Methods of Technological Work

Technology has become science-based. Its method is now "systematic research." And what was formerly "invention" is "innovation" today.

It was World War I that brought about the change.Technology has become in this century somewhat of a

"science" in its own right. It has become "research"—a separate discipline having its own specific methods.

Technologists followed the work of scientists, therefore electrical technology has been closely related to the physical science of electricity.

Alexander Graham Bell on telephone

Hermann von Helmholtz on the reproduction of sound

Guglielmo Marconi on radio

James C. Maxwell on electromagnetic-wave propagation theory

World War I, scientists were mobilized for war effort: science’ power to spark technological ideas and to indicate technological solutions and technological problems

Technology is NOT, then, ‘the application of science to products and processes,’ as is often asserted.” “Know-how” of technologists > “know-what of

scientists” Science as the basis and starting point of today’s

technology

Technology has become a science in its own right; a separate discipline

“Invention” = “flash of insight”

Technological "research" has not only a different methodology from "invention"; it leads to a different approach, known as "innovation," or the purposeful and deliberate attempt to bring about, through technological means, a distinct change in the way man lives and in his environment.

Research method Research team Other elements of research discipline

1. A definition of the need2. A clear goal3. Identification of the major steps to be taken and the

major pieces of work that had to be done4. Constant "feedback" from the results of the work on the

plan5. Organization of the work so that each major segment is

assigned to a specific work team

Scientific "discovery" has always been measured by what it adds to our understanding of natural phenomena. The test of invention is, however, technical--what new capacity it gives us to do a specific task. But the test of innovation is its impact on the way people live.

First major innovation: mass production of Model T automobile by Henry Ford

Innovation defined:“a technical solution to the economic problem of how to produce the largest number of finished products with the greatest reliability of quality at the lowest possible cost.”

The Systems Approach

Mass production exemplifies, too, a new dimension that has been added to technology in this century: the systems approach.

The Pre-Technological Civilization of 1990

Only Japan, of the non-European, non-western countries, had then begun to build up a modern industry and modern technology.

It was, indeed, almost an axiom--for Westerner and non-Westerner alike--that modern technology was, for better or worse, the birthright of the white man.

Technology, as a creature of man, is a problematical, as ambivalent, and as capable of good or evil, as is its creator.

Technology Remakes Social Institutions

Emancipation of Women

Changes in the Organization of Work

The Role of Education

Change in Warfare

A Worldwide Technological Civilization

Man–Moves into a Man–Made Environment

Only sixty years ago, men depended on nature and were primarily threatened by natural catastrophes, storms, floods or earthquakes. Men today depend on technology, and our major threats are technological breakdowns. The largest cities in the world would become uninhabitable in forty-eight hours were the water supply or the sewerage systems to give out.

Modern Technology and the Human Horizon

News, data, information, and pictures have become even more mobile than people. They travel in "real time", that is, they arrive at virtually the same time as they happen.

Technology and Man

The metropolis has become the habitat of modern man. Yet paradoxically we do not know how to make it habitable.

In the final analysis this surely means mastery by man over himself, for if anyone is to blame, it is not the tool but the human maker and user. "It is a poor carpenter who blames his tools"

It is also true that "better tools" demand a better, more highly skilled, and more careful "carpenter".