412 results for "Technology History"

Who says you're dead? medical & ethical dilemmas for the curious and concerned

Appel, Jacob M.
“An original, compelling, and provocative exploration of ethical issues in our society, with thoughtful and balanced commentary. I have not seen anything like it.” —Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dreams Drawing upon the author’s two decades teaching medical ethics, as well as his work as a practicing psychiatrist, this profound and addictive little book offers up challenging ethical dilemmas and asks readers, What would you do? A daughter gets tested to see if she’s a match to donate a kidney to her father. The test reveals that she is not the man’s biological daughter. Should the doctor tell the father? Or the daughter? A deaf couple prefers a deaf baby. Should they be allowed to use medical technology to ensure they have a child who can’t hear? Who should get custody of an embryo created through IVF when a couple divorces? Or, when you or a loved one is on life support, Who says you’re dead? In short, engaging scenarios, Dr. Appel takes on hot-button issues that many of us will confront: genetic screening, sexuality, privacy, doctor-patient confidentiality. He unpacks each hypothetical with a brief reflection drawing from science, philosophy, and history, explaining how others have approached these controversies in real-world cases. Who Says You’re Dead? is designed to defy easy answers and to stimulate thought and even debate among professionals and armchair ethicists alike.
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 2019-10-08 327 pages

Constituent imagination: militant investigations//collective theorization

Stevphen Shukaitis,David Graeber,Erika Biddle
What is the relationship of radical theory to movements for social change? In a world where more and more global struggles are refusing vanguard parties and authoritarian practices, does the idea of the detached intellectual, observing events from on high, make sense anymore? In this powerful and unabashedly militant collection, over two dozen academic authors and engaged intellectuals--including Antonio Negri and Colectivo Situaciones--provide some challenging answers. In the process, they redefine the nature of intellectual practice itself. The book opens with the editors' provocative history of the academy's inherent limitations and possibilities. The essays that follow cover a broad range: embedded intellectuals in increasingly corporatized universities, research projects in which factory workers and academics work side by side, revolutionary ethnographies of the global justice movement, and meditations on technology from the branches of a tree-sit in Scotland. What links them all is a collective and expansive re--imagining of engaged intellectual work in the service of social change. In a cultural climate where right-wing watchdog groups seem to have radical academics on the run, this unapologetic anthology is a breath of fresh air.
AK Press 2007 336 pages

Israel and the bomb

Cohen, Avner
Until now, there has been no detailed account of Israel's nuclear history. Previous treatments of the subject relied heavily on rumors, leaks, and journalistic speculations. But with Israel and the Bomb, Avner Cohen has forged an interpretive political history that draws on thousands of American and Israeli government documents--most of them recently declassified and never before cited--and more than one hundred interviews with key individuals who played important roles in this story. Cohen reveals that Israel crossed the nuclear weapons threshold on the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War, yet it remains ambiguous about its nuclear capability to this day. What made this posture of "opacity" possible, and how did it evolve? Cohen focuses on a two-decade period from about 1950 until 1970, during which David Ben-Gurion's vision of making Israel a nuclear-weapon state was realized. He weaves together the story of the formative years of Israel's nuclear program, from the founding of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission in 1952, to the alliance with France that gave Israel the sophisticated technology it needed, to the failure of American intelligence to identify the Dimona Project for what it was, to the negotiations between President Nixon and Prime Minister Meir that led to the current policy of secrecy. Cohen also analyzes the complex reasons Israel concealed its nuclear program--from concerns over Arab reaction and the negative effect of the debate at home to consideration of America's commitment to nonproliferation. Israel and the Bomb highlights the key questions and the many potent issues surrounding Israel's nuclear history. This book will be a critical resource for students of nuclear proliferation, Middle East politics, Israeli history, and American-Israeli relations, as well as a revelation for general readers.
Columbia University Press 1998 470 pages

Command The Politics of Military Operations from Korea to Ukraine

Lawrence Freedman
Using examples from a wide variety of conflicts, Lawrence Freedman shows that successful military command depends on the ability not only to use armed forces effectively but also to understand the political context in which they are operating. Command in war is about forging effective strategies and implementing them, making sure that orders are appropriate, well-communicated, and then obeyed. But it is also an intensely political process. This is largely because how wars are fought depends to a large extent on how their aims are set. It is also because commanders in one realm must possess the ability to work with other command structures, including those of other branches of the armed forces and allies. In Command, Lawrence Freedman explores the importance of political as well as operational considerations in command with a series of eleven vivid case studies, all taken from the period after 1945. Over this period, the risks of nuclear escalation led to a shift away from great power confrontations and towards civil wars, and advances in communication technologies made it easier for higher-level commanders to direct their subordinates. Freedman covers defeats as well as victories. Pakistani generals tried to avoid surrender as they were losing the eastern part of their country to India in 1971. Iraq's Saddam Hussein turned his defeats into triumphant narratives of victory. Osama bin Laden escaped the Americans in Afghanistan in 2001. The UK struggled as a junior partner to the US in Iraq after 2003. We come across insubordinate generals, such as Israel's Arik Sharon, and those in the French army in Algeria, so frustrated with their political leadership that they twice tried to change it. At the other end of the scale, Che Guevara in Congo in 1966 and Igor Girkin in Ukraine in 2014 both tried to spark local wars to suit their grandiose objectives. Freedman ends the book with a meditation on the future of command in a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on technologies like artificial intelligence. A wide-ranging and insightful history of the changing nature of command in the postwar era, this will stand as a definitive account of a foundational concept in both military affairs and politics.
Oxford University Press 2023-11-16 624 pages

The Pope of Physics Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age

Gino Segrè,Bettina Hoerlin
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Named a Best Book of the Year by Bloomberg (Chosen by Philip Tetlock), Booklist ’s Top 10 Science Books of the Year, and Shortlisted for Physics World ’s Book of the Year A Major Biography of the Nobel Prize–Winning Physicist, Enrico Fermi, a Leading Architect of the Atomic Age Enrico Fermi is unquestionably among the greats of the world’s physicists, the most famous Italian scientist since Galileo. Called “the Pope” by his peers, he was regarded as infallible in his instincts and research. His discoveries changed our world; they led to weapons of mass destruction and conversely to life-saving medical interventions. This unassuming man struggled with issues relevant today, such as the threat of nuclear annihilation and the relationship of science to politics. Fleeing Fascism and anti-Semitism, Fermi became a leading figure in America’s most secret project: building the atomic bomb. An examination of the human dramas that touched Fermi’s life as well as a thrilling history of scientific innovation in the twentieth century, this is the comprehensive biography that Fermi deserves.
Picador 2017-10-10 384 pages

Never Leave Well Enough Alone

Raymond Loewy
Never Leave Well Enough Alone, first published in 1951, is the classic introduction to modern industrial design by the 'father' of the movement - Raymond Loewy. Loewy (1893-1986) was responsible for transforming thousands of everyday objects into streamlined masterpieces, many of which are still popular and in-use in daily life today. Examples include corporate logos; packaging for Lucky Strike cigarettes and Pepsodent toothpaste; Studebaker and Greyhound automotive and bus design; buildings and household furnishings; and appliances such as toasters and refrigerators. This new reprint edition is formatted to Loewy's original design of 6 inches by 7 inches - his first foray into book design; and is illustrated throughout with drawings and photographic examples of his work.
Pathfinder Books 2023-05-15 466 pages

Frozen in time: Clarence Birdseye's outrageous idea about frozen food

Kurlansky, Mark
"This biography--perfect for middle-grade readers--tells the life story of Clarence Birdseye, the man who revolutionized the frozen food industry, and is adapted from Mark Kurlansky's adult work Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man. Adventurer and inventor Clarence Birdseye had a fascination with food preservation that led him to develop and patent the Birdseye freezing process and start the company that still bears his name today. His limitless curiosity spurred his other inventions, including the electric sunlamp, an improved incandescent lightbulb, and a harpoon gun to tag finback whales. This true story of an early entrepreneur is as thrilling as the story of Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. Includes an 8-page black-and-white photo insert"--
Delacorte Press 2014 165 pages

Science And Human Values

Jacob Bronowski
Science and Human Values is a thought-provoking book by Jacob Bronowski that explores the relationship between science and human values. The author argues that science is not just a collection of facts and theories, but a way of thinking that shapes our understanding of the world and our place in it. He contends that science and human values are intimately connected, and that science has the power to transform our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.The book is divided into five chapters, each of which explores a different aspect of the relationship between science and human values. The first chapter discusses the nature of scientific inquiry and the role of imagination in scientific discovery. The second chapter examines the relationship between science and art, arguing that both are essential to our understanding of the world. The third chapter explores the ethical implications of scientific research, particularly in the areas of genetics and nuclear physics.The fourth chapter examines the role of science in shaping our understanding of human nature, while the final chapter discusses the implications of scientific progress for our future as a species. Throughout the book, Bronowski emphasizes the importance of human values in shaping scientific research and the need for scientists to be mindful of the ethical implications of their work.Overall, Science and Human Values is a thought-provoking and insightful book that challenges readers to think deeply about the relationship between science and human values. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the role of science in our lives and the ethical implications of scientific research.The Impact Of Science On Ethics And Human Values.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
Literary Licensing, LLC 2011-09 98 pages

Citizens and Soldiers The Dilemmas of Military Service

Eliot A. Cohen
In the span of a generation, universal military service, universal military training, selective service, a lottery draft, and an all-volunteer armed force have all been either implemented or contemplated seriously in the United States. Why has the United States, unlike every other twentieth-century world power, failed to settle on a durable system of military service? In this informed and even-handed book, Eliot Cohen studies the enduring problems of America's methods of raising an army, seeking to analyze the nature of the many difficulties and the extent to which they can be overcome. A nation's military service must reflect its political and geographical position in the world as well as its ideology. In the case of the United States, Cohen demonstrates, the attempt to satisfy these two types of requirements faces unique and intractable paradoxes. First, the United States must prepare for two completely different kinds of war, large- and small-scale, which for political and military reasons require two different kinds of armies; second, two important traditions?Anglo-Saxon liberalism and democratic egalitarianism?coexist uneasily in American thought and lead to opposing conceptions of citizens' obligations to serve their country. Cohen's book is a long-needed antidote to the myopic preoccupation with short-term trends and fluctuations in recruiting statistics that characterizes the current manpower debate. Lucidly explaining complex issues, Cohen offers a broad comparative view of the historical events, political exigencies, and theoretical arguments that have shaped the military service systems of various countries. His discussion treats many important and timely issues: How shall we select some men?and possibly women?for service, and not others? How will our methods of recruitment affect our foreign policies, our domestic policies, and our forces' performance in battle? What methods have other countries adopted, how well did they work, and could they work here? His thoughtful and objective answers to these difficult questions will interest anyone concerned with contemporary American military policy today.
Cornell University Press 1990-08 228 pages

Bad ideas? an arresting history of our inventions

Winston, Robert M. L.
We are born with the instinct to create and invent. Indeed, our ability to do so is what separates us from the rest of the animal world. But have our creative ideas always produced desirable results? Have they always served us well? Bad Ideas? traces the fascinating history of our attempts at self-improvement but also questions their value. The dubious consequences of the development of weaponry, for example, is self-evident. But what of apparently more innocuous advances such as farming, writing and medicine? Science has produced huge good but has also had unforeseen consequences. Can science and scientists find solutions to the perils that now menace us? We join Robert Winston on a thrilling journey from our earliest days to the present. We meet some key individuals along the way and share quirky anecdotes about their lives and brainwaves. Inspiring, unusual and at times controversial, Bad Ideas? assesses the past and looks forward to the opportunities of the future. In so doing it celebrates man's extraordinary capacity for achievement and offers a hopeful way forward to protect humanity against what sometimes seem like bad ideas.
Bantam 2011 558 pages

Reactionary modernism: technology, culture, and politics in Weimar and the Third Reich

Herf, Jeffrey
Explores the paradox inherent in the German fascists' rejection of the rationalism of the Enlightenment while fully embracing modern technology. By associating technology with the Germans rather than the Jews, with beautiful form rather than the formlessness of the market, and with a strong state rather than a predominance of economic values and institutions, right-wing intellectuals reconciled Germany's strength with its romantic soul and national identity. Includes discussion on the transformation of anti-capitalist rhetoric to anti-Jewish rhetoric. See the index for references to antisemitism, and especially ch. 6, "Werner Sombart: Technology and the Jewish Question".
Cambridge University Press 1984 251 pages

Atoms in the Family My Life with Enrico Fermi

Laura Fermi
In this absorbing account of life with the great atomic scientist Enrico Fermi, Laura Fermi tells the story of their emigration to the United States in the 1930s-part of the widespread movement of scientists from Europe to the New World that was so important to the development of the first atomic bomb. Combining intellectual biography and social history, Laura Fermi traces her husband's career from his childhood, when he taught himself physics, through his rise in the Italian university system concurrent with the rise of fascism, to his receipt of the Nobel Prize, which offered a perfect opportunity to flee the country without arousing official suspicion, and his odyssey to the United States.
Textbook Publishers 2003 267 pages

Big is beautiful: debunking the myth of small business

Atkinson, Robert,Lind, Michael
"In public discourse in the United States, small businesses are lauded as drivers of the economy and keys to economic growth, while "big business" is often vilified. Even in the face of evidence that larger firms are proven to be more likely to stimulate economic growth, American public policy favors small businesses through measures such as lowering taxes or regulatory requirements for firms under a certain number of employees. The authors trace the anti-big business sentiment back to its roots in the early founding of our nation. While the Jeffersonian ideal of every citizen being self-employed made sense for a pre-industrial agrarian society, changes in technology have led to significant economies of scale for big businesses. Now, we see that countries with more self-employed workers are also more likely to be in poverty (think of emerging economies where everyone is an entrepreneur, and compare it to the compensation and benefits packages available to employees of large firms in more advanced economies). Rather than simply taking the opposite view that "bigger is better," the authors argue that a modern capitalist society has room for businesses of all sizes and that we should not be privileging one type of business over another due to size alone, especially when our perception of who creates jobs and grows the economy does not track with reality"--
MIT Press 2018-03-30 352 pages

Diamond Design A Study of the Reflection and Refraction and Refraction of Light in a Diamond (Classic Reprint)

Marcel Tolkowsky
Excerpt from Diamond Design: A Study of the Reflection and Refraction and Refraction of Light in a Diamond This book is written principally for students of precious stones and jewellers, and more particularly, for' diamond manufacturers and diamond cutters and polishers. The author will follow the evolution of the shape given to a cut diamond, and discuss the values of the various shapes and the reason for' the discarding of the old shapes and the practically universal adoption of the brilliant.' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
LULU Press 2018-04-19 114 pages

How a Game Lives

Geller, Jacob
The first of two volumes: How a Game Lives, Vol. 1 is an artfully packaged must-have book for the devoted and casual fans alike, inviting readers to look at gaming and video games from an intellectual, psychological, and emotional perspective as a major part of our cultural fabric. Jacob Geller has 1 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, where he shares in-depth videos on modern gaming and analysis of the games themselves-- interwoven with conversations about politics, art, history and popular culture. Placing video games into the larger media, cultural and artistic context, How a Game Lives, Vol.1 will be a stunning four-color collection that takes Geller's most popular YouTube essays, puts them into print for the first time, and updates them with full annotation by Geller himself and commentary by other writers. Illustrated throughout with original artwork inspired by the games, How a Game Lives, Vol. 1 is truly unique. The games covered in this volume include: The Legend of Zelda series Shadow of the Colossus Returnal Control Call of Duty and more... Geller has taught audiences how to think about video games as art, and how that art has affected them.
HarperCollins Publishers LLC 2025-11-18 208 pages

Idea makers: personal perspectives on the lives & ideas of some notable people

Wolfram, Stephen
This book of thoroughly engaging essays from one of today's most prodigious innovators provides a uniquely personal perspective on the lives and achievements of a selection of intriguing figures from the history of science and technology. Weaving together his immersive interest in people and history with insights gathered from his own experiences, Stephen Wolfram gives an ennobling look at some of the individuals whose ideas and creations have helped shape our world today. Contents includes biographical sketches of: Richard Feynman Kurt Godel Alan Turing John von Neumann George Boole Ada Lovelace Gottfried Leibniz Benoit Mandelbrot Steve Jobs Marvin Minsky Russell Towle Bertrand Russell Alfred Whitehead Richard Crandall Srinivasa Ramanujan Solomon Golomb
Wolfram Media, Inc 2016 239 pages

The Jesuit and the Skull Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, and the Search for Peking Man

Amir Aczel
From the New York Times bestselling author of Fermat?s Last Theorem , ?an extraordinary story?( Philadelphia Inquirer ) of discovery, evolution, science, and faith. In 1929, French Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a part of a group of scientists that uncovered a skull that became known as Peking Man, a key evolutionary link that left Teilhard torn between science and his ancient faith, and would leave him ostracized by his beloved Catholic Church. His struggle is at the heart of The Jesuit and the Skull , which takes readers across continents and cultures in a fascinating exploration of one of the twentieth century?s most important discoveries, and one of the world?s most provocative pieces of evidence in the roiling debate between creationism and evolution.
Penguin 2008-11-04 320 pages

Which side of history? how technology is reshaping democracy and our lives

James P. Steyer
"A collection of 20-25 essays from prominent voices that brings forward creative, bold opinions that will examine the current state and impact of technology on our society and will highlight solutions for constructive change. Sample topics may include: 1 the impact of technology on elections and global democratic institutions; 2 the evisceration of longstanding privacy norms and standards; 3 the impact of technology on kids and teenagers; 4 the rise of cyberbullying and hate speech and how to address these challenges; and, 5 the libertarian ethos that often prizes a "move fast and break things" mentality and its relationship to the Silicon Valley culture bubble"--
Chronicle Prism 2020 327 pages