Reviews for Joint UWBST&IWUWBS 2004: 2004 International Workshop on Ultra Wideband Systems Joint with Conference on Ultra Wideband Systems and Technologies May 18-21, 2004, Hotel Granvia Kyo

The average rating for Joint UWBST&IWUWBS 2004: 2004 International Workshop on Ultra Wideband Systems Joint with Conference on Ultra Wideband Systems and Technologies May 18-21, 2004, Hotel Granvia Kyo based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-12-02 00:00:00 Anita Gift This book is another truly remarkable exposition of the relation between technology and society, along with Mumford's, Pentagon of Power. This book, as with the latter, goes far beyond a mere criticism of technologies. It examines the nature of Technique, which is the collective organization of a society mediated and, in the end, increasingly driven by technology. The ideology of efficiency which drives technologies becomes incorporated into every aspect of the social structure. This book is much more pessimistic than Pentagon of Power. It is also quite a heavy read. Ellul, perhaps even more than Mumford, thoroughly destroys the deluded notion that technology is somehow neutral. He painstakingly lays out the ways in which technology underwent crucial and fundamental qualitative shifts during the industrial revolution. This means that technologies before and after cannot be meaningfully compared, except in very general ways. This explodes the usual arguments that hammers and computers are both tools and are therefore essentially the same. These simple-minded arguments ignore the rest of Technique - the social and economic machinery that goes into their creation and production. Needless to say, the technologizing of our culture may not be so healthy. This book really changed the way I think and caused me to question my environment in a serious way. I think it should be read by everyone who can understand it! I formed a discussion group based partially around it back in the early 90's, though I must admit the response was somewhat disappointing. It is not an easy book to wrap your mind around and it challenges such basic assumptions that it can be hard to come to grips with. It is also a bit dark and scary. Nonetheless, I think it is essential reading for our times.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-03-04 00:00:00 Julius Brown OK, first of all, I have to agree with quite a few of Ellul's specific observations about how technology molds the human spirit. That being said, he commits a few intellectual sins I am loathe to forgive. Firstly, to write about something as concrete as technology in terms as inductive as Ellul's is nothing short of offensive. And, like so many writers on technology-- both critics and enthusiasts-- he falls into the fatal trap of believing that technology has its own logic independent of the human endeavor. I have a sympathy for why thinkers believe this-- after all, computers can be scawwy-- but ultimately it reduces human responsibility and acts as a premise for phony solutionism. Furthermore, Ellul's writing is symptomatic of the Marxist-influenced literature of a time when the social-democratic state seemed sound, when those intellectuals comfortably ensconced in the apparatus of a technocratic, postwar society (Adorno, I'm keeping my eye on you too) could criticize it without thinking that their critiques could be used as ammunition by an army of egotistical libertarians and the wealthy conservatives who quietly bankrolled their efforts. Obviously, I can't blame them in retrospect, but still, for those of us tossed about by the whims of finance capital, there are times when I have to say come on.