Brooks’s scientific contributions

Managerial and social-support systems are called for in recognition that technology requires more than market involvement to address its socio-technical aspects. Most cultures behave as if technology were independent of culture. The author defines technology as public knowledge, the management of which is largely responsible for how and to what extent new technology is received by different social groups. Examining the innovation process and tracing recent trends in technological development, he considers the factors of scale, centralization, standardization, labor versus energy and materials, consumer sovereignty versus complexity, and environmental pollution and externalities. The channeling of technological effort to achieve specific social goals outside the marketplace is a recent development, though still small in proportion to consumer-oriented production. Whether to increase this channeling raises questions about the cultural value of some technological acheivements and the appropriateness of transferring technology to achieve social and economic development. 40 references. (DCK)