This is the first systematic examination of the contemporary and prior connections between technological progress and pessimism over the future. If the hallmark of the Enlightenment was a firm belief in technology as a principal instrument of universal progress, the hallmark of postmodernism may well be skepticism, even despair, over technology's role in shaping our world. This book incorporates the perspectives of historians, political scientists, philosophers, and literary scholars to illuminate the origins, evolution, and influence of technological pessimism and to evaluate its long-term prospects. The volume should appeal to specialists in technology studies and the history of ideas but also to general readers concerned with these dilemmas of technological progress.
