Why Things Bite Back : Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Vintage) Export

@book{citeulike:305768, abstract = {{If it can go wrong, it will--thus Murphy's Law. Science journalist Edward Tenner looks more closely at this eternal verity, named after a U.S. Air Force captain who, during a test of rocket-sled deceleration, noticed that critical gauges had been improperly set and concluded, "If there's more than one way to do a job and one of those ways will end in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." Tenner concurs, and he gives us myriad case studies of how technological fixes often create bigger problems than the ones they were meant to solve in the first place. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics, by way of example, has yielded hardier strains of bacteria and viruses that do not respond to pharmaceutical treatment; the wide-scale use of air conditioning in cities has raised the outdoor temperature in some places by as much as 10 degrees, adding stress to already-taxed cooling systems; the modern reliance on medical intervention to deal with simple illnesses, to say nothing of the rapidly growing number of elective surgeries, means that even a low percentage of error (one patient in twenty-five, by a recent estimate) can affect increasingly large numbers of people. Tenner examines what he deems the "unintended consequences" of technological innovation, drawing examples from everyday objects and situations. Although he recounts disaster after painful disaster, his book makes for curiously entertaining, if sometimes scary, reading. <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> } {In this perceptive and provocative look at everything from computer software that requires faster processors and more support staff to antibiotics that breed resistant strains of bacteria, Edward Tenner offers a virtual encyclopedia of what he calls "revenge effects"--the unintended consequences of the mechanical, chemical, biological, and medical forms of ingenuity that have been hallmarks of the progressive, improvement-obsessed modern age. Tenner shows why our confidence in technological solutions may be misplaced, and explores ways in which we can better survive in a world where despite technology's advances--and often because of them--"reality is always gaining on us."\&\#160;\&\#160;For anyone hoping to understand the ways in which society and technology interact, <b>Why Things Bite Back</b> is indispensable reading.\&\#160;\&\#160;"A bracing critique of technological determinism in both its utopian and dystopian forms...No one who wants to think clearly about our high-tech future can afford to ignore this book."--Jackson Lears, <i>Wilson Quarterly</i>}}, author = {Tenner, Edward}, citeulike-article-id = {305768}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike09-20&amp;path=ASIN/0679747567}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike01-21&amp;path=ASIN/0679747567}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike06-21&amp;path=ASIN/0679747567}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.amazon.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679747567}, citeulike-linkout-4 = {http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679747567/citeulike00-21}, citeulike-linkout-5 = {http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike07-20&path=ASIN/0679747567}, citeulike-linkout-6 = {http://www.worldcat.org/isbn/0679747567}, citeulike-linkout-7 = {http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0679747567}, citeulike-linkout-8 = {http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?keywords=0679747567&index=books&linkCode=qs}, citeulike-linkout-9 = {http://www.librarything.com/isbn/0679747567}, day = {02}, howpublished = {Paperback}, isbn = {0679747567}, keywords = {complex\_system, complex\_systems\_engineering}, month = {September}, posted-at = {2008-01-25 01:56:39}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Vintage}, title = {Why Things Bite Back : Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Vintage)}, url = {http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike07-20&path=ASIN/0679747567}, year = {1997} }

TY - BOOK ID - citeulike:305768 L3 - citeulike-article-id:305768 N2 - {If it can go wrong, it will--thus Murphy's Law. Science journalist Edward Tenner looks more closely at this eternal verity, named after a U.S. Air Force captain who, during a test of rocket-sled deceleration, noticed that critical gauges had been improperly set and concluded, "If there's more than one way to do a job and one of those ways will end in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." Tenner concurs, and he gives us myriad case studies of how technological fixes often create bigger problems than the ones they were meant to solve in the first place. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics, by way of example, has yielded hardier strains of bacteria and viruses that do not respond to pharmaceutical treatment; the wide-scale use of air conditioning in cities has raised the outdoor temperature in some places by as much as 10 degrees, adding stress to already-taxed cooling systems; the modern reliance on medical intervention to deal with simple illnesses, to say nothing of the rapidly growing number of elective surgeries, means that even a low percentage of error (one patient in twenty-five, by a recent estimate) can affect increasingly large numbers of people. Tenner examines what he deems the "unintended consequences" of technological innovation, drawing examples from everyday objects and situations. Although he recounts disaster after painful disaster, his book makes for curiously entertaining, if sometimes scary, reading. <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> } {In this perceptive and provocative look at everything from computer software that requires faster processors and more support staff to antibiotics that breed resistant strains of bacteria, Edward Tenner offers a virtual encyclopedia of what he calls "revenge effects"--the unintended consequences of the mechanical, chemical, biological, and medical forms of ingenuity that have been hallmarks of the progressive, improvement-obsessed modern age. Tenner shows why our confidence in technological solutions may be misplaced, and explores ways in which we can better survive in a world where despite technology's advances--and often because of them--"reality is always gaining on us."&#160;&#160;For anyone hoping to understand the ways in which society and technology interact, <b>Why Things Bite Back</b> is indispensable reading.&#160;&#160;"A bracing critique of technological determinism in both its utopian and dystopian forms...No one who wants to think clearly about our high-tech future can afford to ignore this book."--Jackson Lears, <i>Wilson Quarterly</i>} SN - 0679747567 TI - Why Things Bite Back : Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Vintage) PB - Vintage KW - complex_system KW - complex_systems_engineering AU - Tenner, Edward PY - 1997/09/02/ UR - http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike09-20&amp;path=ASIN/0679747567 ER -