| Document Type
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BL
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| Record Number
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626256
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| Doc. No
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dltt
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| Main Entry
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MacKenzie, Donald A
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| Title & Author
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Knowing machines : : essays on technical change /\ Donald MacKenzie
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| Series Statement
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Inside technology
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| Page. NO
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viii, 338 pages :: illustrations ;; 24 cm
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| ISBN
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0262133156
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: 9780262133159
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| Bibliographies/Indexes
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Includes bibliographical references and index
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| Contents
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1. Introduction -- 2. Marx and the Machine -- 3. Economic and Sociological Explanations of Technological change -- 4. From the Luminiferous Ether to the Boeing 757 -- 5. Nuclear Weapons Laboratories and the Development of Supercomputing -- 6. The Charismatic Engineer / Donald McKenzie and Boelie Elzen -- 7. The Fangs of the VIPER -- 8. Negotiating Arithmetic, Constructing Proof -- 9. Computer-Related Accidental Death -- 10. Tacit Knowledge and the Uninvention of Nuclear Weapons / Donald McKenzie and Graham Spinardi
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| Abstract
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The essays are tied together by their explorations of connections (primarily among technology, society, and knowledge) and by their general focus on modern "high" technology. They also share an emphasis on the complexity of technological formation and fixation and on the role of belief (especially self-validating belief) in technological change
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Two of the articles won major prizes on their original journal publication, and all but one date from 1991 or later. A substantial new introduction outlines the common themes underlying this body of work and places it in the context of recent debates in technology studies. Two conceptual essays are followed by seven empirical essays focusing on the laser gyroscopes that are central to modern aircraft navigation technology, on supercomputers (with a particular emphasis on their use in the design of nuclear weapons), on the application of mathematical proof in the design of computer systems, on computer-related accidental deaths, and on the nature of the knowledge that is needed to design a nuclear bomb
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| Subject
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Technology-- Social aspects
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Sociale aspecten
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Technique-- Aspect social
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Technische ontwikkeling
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Technologie-- Aspect social
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| Subject
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Technology-- sociology
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| Dewey Classification
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306.4/6
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| LC Classification
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T14.5.M32 1996
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