The End of Technology
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2022
Pages: 192
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2022
Pages: 190
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Technology and sustainability are linked by the choices we make. Every day, those choices determine the trajectory of our society toward whatever future lies ahead. We therefore need to think deeply about the nature of technology, and about how the values we hold - as individuals, professionals, and global citizens - shape the technological choices we make. This is the book every engineering student should read.
Sustainability is not a technological problem, but a social and cultural one - a problem in system design. While technology provides tools to improve our situation, those same tools can also make things much worse. Yet behind all of our technologies are the choices that led to them; behind the reasons for those choices, lie the values we hold as individuals, professionals, and global citizens. A sustainable future requires us all to make better choices, starting today. Aimed primarily at STEM students, The End of Technology explores the nature of technology, the kinds of ethical choices we make about technology, and how values are embedded in system design.
Preface
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 Technology is in Our Heads
CHAPTER 2 Technology by Choice
CHAPTER 3 Reverse Engineering
CHAPTER 4 Problems in System Design
CHAPTER 5 System Design Solutions
CHAPTER 6 The Story of Progress
CHAPTER 7 The End of Technology
Bookshelf
Index
Peter Denton. Ph.D., is Adjunct Associate Professor of History at the Royal Military College of Canada, where he specializes in technology, warfare and society. Peter was previously an instructor in Technical Communication/Ethics and Sustainability at Red River College Polytechnic, he also taught in the Price Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba. He holds five degrees, and is the author or editor of various articles and nine books, including Technology and Sustainability (2014).
From 2013 to 2016, he was elected one of two Major Groups and Stakeholders Regional Representatives for North America to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). He was also elected Rapporteur for the Intergovernmental and Multi-stakeholder Consultation in Berlin (2014) that established the parameters for UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook 6 (GEO 6).
These reflections on technology should stimulate your thinking about the crucial questions of our day.
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org
Peter Denton draws engineers to critically examine why we do what we do, and the questions to which engineering asserts its claim – but also holds the responsibility – to answer.
Marcia Friesen, P.Eng., Ph.D., Dean, Price Faculty of Engineering, University of Manitoba
Denton’s The End of Technology is a careful but passionate book full of good sense about a subject that we all need to understand deeply. It is perfect for STEM students and faculties, but, really, it is a book for all of us. I love this book.
James Gustave Speth, former Dean, Yale School of the Environment
This is the most important book on technology and sustainability since David Dickson’s The Politics of Technology and E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful.
Dr. Sal Restivo, author of The Age of the Social
Peter Denton encourages us to step back from looking at the problems of climate change and a lack of sustainability with sorrow and regret, and to make choices as individuals that can make a real difference.
John Craynon, Ph.D., PE, Teaching Assistant Professor, Mining Engineering, West Virginia University
This is a book that deserves a wide readership.
John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
This book will inspire readers to reconnect with their humanity and take care of each other and Mother Nature so that, together, we can create a sustainable future for all.
Kehkashan Basu, MSM, Founder-President, Green Hope Foundation
Technology and sustainability are linked by the choices we make. Every day, those choices determine the trajectory of our society toward whatever future lies ahead. We therefore need to think deeply about the nature of technology, and about how the values we hold - as individuals, professionals, and global citizens - shape the technological choices we make. This is the book every engineering student should read.
Sustainability is not a technological problem, but a social and cultural one - a problem in system design. While technology provides tools to improve our situation, those same tools can also make things much worse. Yet behind all of our technologies are the choices that led to them; behind the reasons for those choices, lie the values we hold as individuals, professionals, and global citizens. A sustainable future requires us all to make better choices, starting today. Aimed primarily at STEM students, The End of Technology explores the nature of technology, the kinds of ethical choices we make about technology, and how values are embedded in system design.
Preface
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 Technology is in Our Heads
CHAPTER 2 Technology by Choice
CHAPTER 3 Reverse Engineering
CHAPTER 4 Problems in System Design
CHAPTER 5 System Design Solutions
CHAPTER 6 The Story of Progress
CHAPTER 7 The End of Technology
Bookshelf
Index
Peter Denton. Ph.D., is Adjunct Associate Professor of History at the Royal Military College of Canada, where he specializes in technology, warfare and society. Peter was previously an instructor in Technical Communication/Ethics and Sustainability at Red River College Polytechnic, he also taught in the Price Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba. He holds five degrees, and is the author or editor of various articles and nine books, including Technology and Sustainability (2014).
From 2013 to 2016, he was elected one of two Major Groups and Stakeholders Regional Representatives for North America to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). He was also elected Rapporteur for the Intergovernmental and Multi-stakeholder Consultation in Berlin (2014) that established the parameters for UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook 6 (GEO 6).
These reflections on technology should stimulate your thinking about the crucial questions of our day.
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org
Peter Denton draws engineers to critically examine why we do what we do, and the questions to which engineering asserts its claim – but also holds the responsibility – to answer.
Marcia Friesen, P.Eng., Ph.D., Dean, Price Faculty of Engineering, University of Manitoba
Denton’s The End of Technology is a careful but passionate book full of good sense about a subject that we all need to understand deeply. It is perfect for STEM students and faculties, but, really, it is a book for all of us. I love this book.
James Gustave Speth, former Dean, Yale School of the Environment
This is the most important book on technology and sustainability since David Dickson’s The Politics of Technology and E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful.
Dr. Sal Restivo, author of The Age of the Social
Peter Denton encourages us to step back from looking at the problems of climate change and a lack of sustainability with sorrow and regret, and to make choices as individuals that can make a real difference.
John Craynon, Ph.D., PE, Teaching Assistant Professor, Mining Engineering, West Virginia University
This is a book that deserves a wide readership.
John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
This book will inspire readers to reconnect with their humanity and take care of each other and Mother Nature so that, together, we can create a sustainable future for all.
Kehkashan Basu, MSM, Founder-President, Green Hope Foundation