Engineering as a Social Enterprise (1991) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Pondering the Unpredictability of the Sociotechnical System
Pondering the Unpredictability of the Sociotechnical System
Pages 89-100
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From page 89... ...
As individual engineers we seem powerless before the omnipotence of society as a whole. Our livelihoods appear to be determined by the fickle whims of government and market forces—forces that signal to the engineering community the needs of society in ways that are in the short term tenuous and difficult to read, while in the long term compelling.
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From page 90... ...
I have often felt exactly the same way about how social concerns shape the engineering environment The nation—and more and more, the world has its collective hands on a pointer that moves unbidden past squares denoting fashion, style, trends, needs, wishes, and such. Unlike the parlor Ouija board, however, the board here is so large that individual players are unable to see the movements of the pointer directly.
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From page 91... ...
More significant players huddle around the table and influence directions. Moreover, the time constants associated with pointer movements are becoming shorter.
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From page 92... ...
Let me cite four examples the Picturephone~, home information systems, facsimile, and cellular telephony. The first two were technologically driven market failures, while the last two were unanticipated market successes.
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From page 93... ...
The Prestel system in the United Kingdom set a gleaming technological example. With an ordinary television set and an adapter for the existing telephone line, it was possible to get individualized information, such as stock prices, news and weather, sports, home shopping, banking, and so forth.
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From page 94... ...
Several things happened about that time. Technology, and Japanese manufacturing skills, had reached a point where a good-quality fax machine cost roughly $1,000 a level at which middle-level business managers could justify, and perhaps more importantly, could authorize, the purchase of a machine.
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From page 95... ...
This time society adopted the original technological dream. Society decided that the cellular phone was not the exclusive province of the rich or the enslaving tool of the traveling salesman, but rather a means of extending human networking and societal togetherness for the common person.
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From page 96... ...
Some technology will fail, but sometimes the determined application of a technological dream—even a simple one—can forever change society for the better. TRENDS IN THE SOCIOTECHNICAL SYSTEM When we look at the great technology trends from the past, we see how they created social revolution.
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From page 97... ...
Perhaps the most important problem of our time is the management of complexity. In his best-selling book Megatrends, John Naisbitt observed that the computer is a tool that manages complexity, and as such, just as highways encourage more cars, the computer invites more complexity into society.
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From page 98... ...
Half the nation works on computers, while the other half (a larger half, to be sure) cannot program their video tape recorders.
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From page 99... ...
Appendixes
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