Human societies have not always taken on new technology in appropriate ways. Innovations are double-edged swords that transform relationships among people, as well as between human societies and the natural world. Only through successful cultural appropriation can we manage to control the hubris that is fundamental to the innovative, enterprising human spirit; and only by becoming hybrids, combining the human and the technological, will we be able to make effective use of our scientific and technological achievements.
This broad cultural history of technology and science provides a range of stories and reflections about the past, discussing areas such as film, industrial design, and alternative environmental technologies, and including not only European and North American, but also Asian examples, to help resolve the contradictions of contemporary high-tech civilization.
"Hubris and Hybrids is an extremely important book for opening the debate on technology, democracy, science and society, knowledge and responsibility in a period when technology and science are reengineering the earth and our lives."
"Hubris and Hybrids subverts the varied ‘grand narratives’ commonly told about modern technology and science. Hård and Jamison offer an alternative set of well-crafted ‘small narratives’—ranging widely from Denmark to Detroit and from Czechoslovakia to China. These new stories of science and social movements, machine-breaking environmentalism, and the politics of development lay the groundwork for a bold and much needed cultural assessment of technology and science."
