The Risk of Technology

Abstract

To remain competitive in the present technological revolution we must recognize that our traditional type of university education is not appropriate to more than a fraction of those entering higher education. Ageing university staff and a sad waste of skill of junior researchers in the United Kingdom, Europe and Ihe United States are the symptoms which should encourage a diversity in universities, some to specialize in teaching, others in research, and thus lead to a hierarchy of universities.     

The Politics of International Technology Transfer

Technology transfer is well recognized as a major determinant in the economic development of newly industrializing countries. Increasingly, technology transfer is also recognized as an important component in the economic fortunes of developed countries. The globalization of markets and the premium placed on technological sophistication in industry and services emphasizes the need for governments to consider and engage in technology transfer policy strategies. Our understanding of the dynamics of technology transfer can be enhanced through the study of the experiences of specific states. It is against this backdrop that this paper presents an analysis of technology transfer patterns from the United States and Japan to South Korea from 1962 through 1992. The Korean experience reveals that patterns of technology transfer cannot be explained simply by concentrating on what has been transferred from donor countries, such as the United Slates and Japan. Rather, we need to turn our focus to the host country and to the policy strategies that have been adopted to shape patterns of technology transfer. In short, the question turns from the economics of what, to the policies of how, technology transfer is accomplished.     

The Politics of Citizen Access Technology

This article uses comparative case studies to examine the political shaping of public Information utilities developed by American local governments. These public access computer networks are designed lo facilitate access to community information and dialogue. We view technology design as analogous to developing public policy on citizen participation, where the "legislation" is imbedded in the technological design. Research sites included three adopter cities, Santa Monica, Pasadena, and Glendale, California, and one nonadopter city, Irvine. This comparison highlights key technology-policy choices (including the choice of not developing this application). Our analysis then examines the role of technological paradigms, local political cultures, and organizational arrangements in shaping municipal approaches to addressing these key policy choices.     

唐墓壁画载体的特殊性及传统工艺

唐墓壁画由于长期被置于地下墓室的特殊环境,在制作工艺和材料的选择上与地上绘画艺术有很大的不同。本文剖析了唐墓壁画的特殊结构和特性;从传统工艺出发,介绍了唐墓壁画载体的材料及制作工艺;从理论上分析了唐墓壁画的主要载体一石灰地仗的收缩、开裂的防治方法。     

The Primacy of Science in Modernity,of Technology in Postmodernity,and of Ideology in the History of Technology

The abrupt reversal of culturally ascribed primacy in the science–technology relationship—namely, from the primacy of science relative to technology prior to circa 1980, to the primacy of technology relative to science since about that date—is proposed as a demarcator of postmodernity from modernity: modernity is when ‘science’ could, and often did, denote technology too; postmodernity is when science is subsumed under technology. In support of that demarcation criterion, I evidence the breadth and strength of modernity’s presupposition of the primacy of science to and for technology by showing its preposterous hold upon social theorists—Marx, Veblen, Dewey—whose principles logically required the reverse, viz. the primacy of practice; upon 19th and 20th century engineers and industrialists, social actors whose practical interests likewise required the reverse; and upon the principal theorizers in the 1970s of the role of science in late 20th century technology and society. The reversal in primacy between science and technology ca 1980 came too unexpectedly, too quickly, and, above all, too unreflectively to have resulted from the weight of evidence or the force of logic. Rather, it was a concomitant of the onset of postmodernity. Oddly, historians of technology have remained almost wholly unacknowledging of postmodernity’s epochal elevation of the cultural standing of the subject of their studies, and, specifically, have ignored technology’s elevation relative to science. This I attribute to the ideological character of that discipline, and, specifically, to its strategy of ignoration of science.     

The Philosophy of Technology: A Review

Abstract

The continuous technological progress since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution seemed to confirm the Rationalists and the optimism of the Age of Enlightenment. This is no longer so. In this review new lines of enquiry into this change are discussed, and various philosophical features and traditions are explored. It proves difficult to define ‘technology’; the philosophy of science and its methodology are considered, mind and machines are contrasted and the review concludes with a consideration of the arguments put forward for metaphysical interpretations of technology.     

Clovis Lithic Technology: The Devil Is in the Details

Clovis is the best known early development in North America buts its lithic technology is poorly documented and often from animal kill sites. This evidence has been used to picture Clovis peoples as mobile, colonizing, big-game hunters and explanations of lithic technological practices have been framed largely in materialist terms. Increasing documentation suggests views about how the complex Clovis biface and blade production strategies relate to subsistence, land use, and specific kinds of mobility patterns are questionable and often difficult to test with archaeological data. We need to seriously consider the role of Clovis people's worldview in structuring their thought and technical actions.     

现代勘察技术在城墙保护中的应用

现存西安城墙是在隋大兴城、唐长安城皇城的基础上扩建而形成的。城墙砖表土芯的建筑特征决定了它不会像石质建筑一样的坚固,它处于不断的消蚀状态,在风雨、人为的侵蚀下发生着细微乃至巨大的变化,裂缝、沉降、鼓胀、剥蚀等的问题在它的体内滋生蔓延着。保护者应当了解表面之下的内容,在不损害文物的前提下,利用现代技术主动了解古代城墙的内部变化规律。针对目前西安城墙存在的问题,通过科学的勘查之后,今后一段时期保护的首要任务是防水措施的改善,其次是加强现代手段的重点部位的监测,在此基础上减少或防止有害的人类活动,并有针对性地选择合适的方式进行工程治理。     

文物保护技术新世纪展望

新世纪中有机氟材料将在物保护领域广泛应用,纳米材抖将从物保护新材料中脱颖而出,抑制微生物腐蚀将成为物保护工作重中之重,互联网将在物保护工作中发挥巨大效率。     

Export-led Technology Development in the Four Dragons: The Case of Electronics

To date, little attention has been paid to the strategies of local firms in bringing about industrialization in Bast Asia. This article focuses on the methods by which domestic firms utilized foreign connections to overcome technology and market barriers in electronics. A simple market-technology model is developed as a first approximation of how domestic technology assimilation relates to export marketing in the four ‘Dragons' of East Asia (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore). It proposes that export demand shaped the pace and pattern of technological progress in electronics in each of the four Dragons. Historical evidence shows that each country used a distinctive mix of direct and indirect export mechanisms to acquire technology and to enter international markets. Foreign buyers, transnational corporations (TNCs), original equipment manufacturer (OEM) arrangements, joint ventures and licensing deals were exploited by ‘latecomer’ firms to their market and technology advantage. Asian firms progressed from simple assembly tasks to more sophisticated product design and development capabilities, travelling ‘backwards' along the product life cycle of traditional innovation models. Today, leading Asian firms invest heavily in R&D and engage in partnerships with TNCs to acquire and develop advanced new electronics technologies. The technological progress of latecomers remains closely coupled to export demand through OEM and other institutional arrangements.     

遗传基因技术与三峡考古实践

遗传基因技术是新兴起的前沿学科领域,将这一方法应用于三峡考古的实践在国内还是首次。本通过对重庆库区石地磅汉代墓地出土人类遗骨基因的采样、测试和分辨,得出了墓主人可能是南方土居民初步认识,这一认识与考古类型学分析结果可以互证。     

美国经济遏制战略与高新技术转让限制

50— 60年代 ,美国经济遏制战略是以禁运战略物资为主 ,从 70年代开始 ,转向以限制高新技术转让为主 ;1 979年《出口管制法》标志着这种转变的完成。在“缓和时代” ,美国经济遏制战略追求的目标是 ,以有限发展东西方贸易换取苏联的政治让步。在“新冷战”时期 ,美国经济遏制战略将打击对象从中国重新转向苏联 ,更重要的是将高新技术转让限制作为迫使苏联“改变国内政治”的重要手段