The Modern Face of Science and Technology: National Technology and Socialized Cognition

Author: Li Lei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: When we realize that today's science may have undergone tremendous changes compared to the past, we might think of a path humanity has taken: a path lined with monuments, recording the spiritual and aesthetic explorations of individual thinkers, their journeys and contributions. It includes not only Marie Curie or Roentgen, but also Maxwell and Newton before them, Kepler and Galileo before that, and even Archimedes and Euclid in ancient times. All of them stand out as prominent monuments, so that our understanding of them is not greatly affected by the vastness of their time. But under the same name of science, humanity may now be on a new, intertwined path. This path is not even a distinct, identifiable one, but rather interwoven with the road of industrial and commercial civilization, the road of sovereign national interests and national economic systems, and the road of humanity grasping the future. What captures people's attention are modern technological activities such as super-large-scale integrated circuits, new materials, space travel, cruise missiles, etc. These are grand, non-individual efforts that no single person can accomplish, and their primary goal is no longer "purely rational" progress. The speed at which the results of these activities permeate all aspects of social life, as well as the material prosperity they display, are far more dazzling than the people engaged in them. These individuals exist in the form of vast armies, to the point where people are no longer accustomed to recognizing them as individual subjects. This book includes: classical science and individual cognition, industrial science in the 19th century, military research during World War II and national science, "Science and the Great Community," the socialization of controllable systems, high-planning, high-coordination systems, etc.