By: Dr. W. DouglasCooper

Abstract:


Frederick Allen, writing in American Heritage of Invention andTechnology discusses the nation's technological achievements during thetwentieth century. In his article he reminds the young reader that the seemingchaos created for the current generation by an information age, where changesare discontinuous and happening at a geometric rate, are not really new tohuman history. The same type of chaos was well known to the great-grandfathersof the current generation.

Introduction:


"So 100 years ago we didn't have an Internet or cell phones,but we did have networks of telegraphs and telephones for instant communicationaround the world; we didn't have superhighways or 747s, but we did have trainsand steamships that reduced the longest journey to a tiny fraction of the timeit had taken only decades before; we didn't have television but we did havemotion pictures and we had newspapers bringing us nearly instant news."


From Allen we learn there is something universal about theconstant change of technology. We learn that technology has never been, andnever will be, good or bad. It is neither inherently good nor bad because it isall about what people ask for and do. It is about human activity. Technologyreflects both the best and the worst of humans.

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Author is a Professor of Business Information Systems and Operations Management Belk College of Business, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA


Originally published in New Cloth Market: May 2010