Unreliable Promises -- Value Conflicts in Technology Migration

Author: Dennis G. Coulter (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: This book specifically studies the value conflicts that arise during the transfer of technology to the Third World. The material in this book comes from literature reviewed and field research conducted between September 1972 and 1975. During this period, the author interviewed many scholars, government and international organization officials, patent lawyers, licensing agencies, technology buyers and sellers, consultants, engineers, heads of industrial research laboratories, bankers, farmers, and factory workers, among others. The author used both formal questionnaires and informal interviews to understand how those involved in technology viewed their values and what their priorities were. These responses were extremely important for the author's research. During the interviews, one practice proved particularly useful: interviewing the two parties to technology contracts separately in different workplaces to ask them how they viewed these international transactions. Is modern technology the key to successful development? Can technology truly deliver "development" to the Third World as promised? Can technology be transferred from one cultural environment to another in a way that helps rather than harms? How can national technology "modernization" policies be linked to broader development goals in different countries? These are the central questions explored in this book. The author describes technology as a "double-edged sword," both a carrier and a destroyer of values. Although technology originates from "developed" societies, modern technology spreads rapidly worldwide through various channels of transfer. During this process, inevitable intercountry value conflicts arise, manifesting at multiple levels: ① The competitive interests between technology buyers and sellers; ② The contradiction between overall development goals in poor countries and the impacts of imported technology; ③ The general questions of whether technology can serve humanity in any society, such as whether the scale is satisfactory, whether the ecological environment is sound, and whether resources are used reasonably, and so on.