Science, Technology, and Social Progress ed. by Steven L. Goldman

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 455 sion Laboratory, and academic consultant to illustrate his broad themes with interesting case examples. It is frustrating that he often does not provide as much detail as one might wish, or in some cases, especially his discussion of mathematics, may assume more knowledge on the part of the reader than is warranted. Anyone utilizing this volume as a central text in a course would want to supplement it with one or more studies in depth to illustrate further the general themes to which Adams points. One might, for example, readily think of Terry Reynolds’s anthology, The Engineer in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), consisting of essays drawn from this journal, or Walter Vincenti’s What Engineers Know and How They Know It (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), which also draws extensively on research originally published in Technology and Culture. In sum, Adams’s book is a suggestive synthesis of the engineer’s role in modern society and should be attractive to a broad range of general interest readers, including engineering students, who, because of the scientific and technical focus of their training, often are not exposed to how their work and chosen profession fit into the broader world. Stephen H. Cutcliffe Dr. Cutcliffe is director of the Science, Technology and Society Program at Lehigh University, where he edits the Science, Technology and Society Curriculum Development Newsletter. He is also the coeditor with Robert C. Post of in Context: History and the History of Technology—Essays in Honor of Melvin Kranzberg (Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University Press, 1989). Science, Technology, and Social Progress. Edited by Steven L. Goldman. Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University Press; Cranbury, N.J.: Associ­ ated University Presses, 1989. Pp. 298; notes. $42.50. Creating art with tile is a difficult undertaking. This volume, which its editor claims is “a mosaic of critical reflections” on the remarkable persistence of the idea of progress, must be read in the light of that challenge. The essays were originally delivered as lectures in a series of colloquia and have been gathered here in the full. The collection is thus varied, in style as well as value to the theme. The contributions range from narrow (as in Rosalind Yalow’s discussion of radiation hazards, a topic she barely links to the idea of progress) to broad (as in Christopher Lasch’s analysis of the psychological roots of the progress assumption in 20th-century Western thought) to quirky (as in William Provine’s pugnacious review of the relations between evolutionary and religious thought). Collectively, they are rich in stimulating conceptions and insight. I will focus on a few of the brighter tiles in the mosaic here. Langdon Winner links the idea of progress to the recurring theme of 456 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE the frontier in American culture, starting with the Puritans and mov­ ing to the rhetoric of artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and genetics, where our bodies have become their own frontier. The notion of the frontier thus appears infinitely adaptable without losing the underly­ ing message of progress. But it also “excludes any strong notion of responsibility” (p. 53). America “never had finally to face the conse­ quences of growing up. It could begin again on the frontier” (p. 54). Joan Rothschild argues that “the ideology of human progress is very much alive today in the new reproductive technologies” (p. 93), which put into practice the idea of perfecting the human race. The notions of species hierarchy (humans are the highest order of beings in the universe) and intraspecies hierarchy (some humans are of a higher order than others) are linked to that of human perfectibility. The eugenics movement of the early 20th century developed only crude methods of seeking human perfection, but the modern techniques of reproduction, prenatal screening, and fetal alteration are giving new meaning to old terms. In the debate over these technologies, Roths­ child points out, arguments center on “limits, guidelines, and possibilities—but rarely on ‘Why do we want to?’ ” (p. 93). Daryl Chubin brings basic science into the picture, with an essay based in a set of interviews with scientists on their notions of progress. Subprogresses appear...