Science, Technology and the Human Prospect

Science, Technology and the Human Prospect presents the technical and industrial development that has significantly altered the human life. This book examines the positive and negative aspects of material development and its relation to the values of life.

Organized into three parts encompassing 18 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the innovative process, including the development, invention, and commercial introduction of products and services. This text then examines the determinants of economic growth and the relationship between research and development (R & D) and the rate of productivity growth. Other chapters consider the various approaches to the energy problem in view of the human prospect. This book discusses as well the various aspects of energy demand, urbanization, and decentralization. The final chapter deals with the trends in the basic technologies of a communication system.

This book is a valuable resource for engineers, economists, scientists, and research workers.

Contenu

Foreword-Observing the Centennial of Light
Introduction-The Growth of Limits
Part I: Judging the Costs and Benefits of Technology

1. Phases of Creativity in Science and Technology
2. Science, Technology, and Economic Growth
3. Science and Technology in Global Development
4. Energy and Civilization
5. The Human Factor
   Part II: Adapting the Institutional Frame of Technology
6. Two Kinds of Light from Science
7. Technology and Socioeconomic Innovation
8. Public Reactions to Science and Technology: The Wizard Faces Social Judgment
9. Industry and Energy: Moral Dimensions of the Tasks
10. Science, Technology, and Social Achievement
    Part III: Human Needs and the Future of Invention
11. Energy
12. Technological History and Technical Problems
13. Human Population and Ecology
14. Medicine and Public Health
15. Urban Development
16. Food and Agriculture
17. Democracy and Technology
18. Communications
    Index
    About the Contributors