SOCA02H3 Chapter Notes -Steam Engine, Kondratiev Wave
Document Summary
Bombing of hiroshima divided the twentieth century into two distinct periods: period before hiroshima the era of naive optimism. During that time, technology could do no wrong. 4 reactor at ukraine, exploded, releasing 30-40 x the radioactivity of the blast at hiroshima: exxon valdez ran aground in alaska, spilling crude oil, producing a dangerous slick. Normal accident: accidents that occur inevitably & unpredictably b/c of the complexity of modern technologies: usually when rare combinations of conditions occur in the computer program, ex) when your home computer crashes. Risk society: way in which risk [& danger] is distributed as a side effect of society: danger does not result from technological accidents alone. Opinion of both cheerleaders and naysayers--who view technology as our saviour and those who fear it as a frankenstein. Focus on global warming, industrial pollution, and of biodiversity. Socio @ the movies: the matrix & the terminator. Matrix: gigantic computer that makes imagination possible.
