Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences

Tenner, Edward

ISBN 10: 0679425632 / ISBN 13: 9780679425632

Published by Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 1997

About this Item

346 pp., notes, index. Nearly new, no markings. A provocative look at technology and the idea of progress. Tenner argues that society should look to finesse, rather than always aiming for more quantity and speed of production. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # 002093

Bibliographic Details

Title: Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the ...

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, NY

Publication Date: 1997

Binding: Cloth & Boards

Book Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Edition: 6th Printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

In this fascinating book, historian of science Edward Tenner takes a fine-toothed comb to several realms of technological intervention and discovers a resolute pattern of "revenge effects, "paradoxical, ironic consequences of the step s we take supposedly to improve our lives. Whether proliferating technology is fated to lead us to utopia, we can be certain that it has plenty of tricks up its sleeve.

Review:

To the Hopi Indians in America's Southwest, our existence will soon become koyaanissqatsi or "a world out of balance." Some doomsday theorists, like historian Edward Tenner, argue we are already there. But unlike many of his colleagues, Tenner doesn't believe technology is causing the world's demise--rather, it is carrying us, as individuals, to our own koyaanissqatsi more quickly. Technological "breakthroughs" such as X-rays and computers have their immediate benefits, but their long-term consequences in terms of health and environmental risks, lost time, and disintegration of traditions set us back further than where we started in the first place. While Tenner doesn't damn technology, he cautions for modest and skeptical acceptance of it.