Technology and the Human Condition

'''Gendron, Bernard. Technology and the Human Condition.''' New York: St. Martin's, 1977.

A three-part discussion of the benevolence and/or malevolence of technology. "Part One: The Utopian View" examines the contention that technology "will eliminate scarcity and disease, . . . improve communications and education, and . . . undermine aggression, prejudice," and other bad things. Notes that "Utopians," who see technology as positive, see "major world problems as 'technical,' rather than as 'political' or 'ideological.'" "Part Two: The Dystopian View" examines the proposition "that technological growth in the long run generates or intensifies many more social evils than it reduces or eliminates." "Part Three: The Socialist View" presents the Socialists' insistence "that technological growth is a necessary condition for social progress," but is still "far from a sufficient condition for overall social progress" (3). BG finds the Socialist position most promising.