The Shock of the Old
April 5, 2007
Posted by Clare in: Events | Watershed | Ideas | Technology | TrackbackDavid Edgerton on The Shock of the Old
Festival of Ideas: 22 May
18.00-19.00 Watershed £3.00/£2.00
We think we live in an age of new technology. David Edgerton’s new book The Shock of the Old challenges the idea that we live in an era of ever increasing change. Interweaving political, economic and cultural history, it will show what it means to think critically about technology and its importance. Standard histories of technology give tired old accounts of the usual inventions but The Shock of the Old argues that to have a full picture of the history of technology we need to know not about what a few people invented, but about what things everyday people used – and when they actually used them. It reassesses the Pill and IT, and shows the continued importance of technology such as corrugated iron and sewing machines. Simon Jenkins in The Guardian said this ‘is a book I can use. I can take it in two hands and bash it over the heads of every techno-nerd, computer geek and neophiliac futurologist I meet.’
http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/
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