The Role of Technology in Shaping Human History

How have societies historically viewed the role of information technology from cuneiform tablets to social media? What conditions fostered innovation in industrial and military technology and what were the social consequences? Why did technological innovations happen in one place and not another? And what is the role of technology in shaping a globalized world?

This summer institute explored the effects of technology on the development of and interaction between human societies. 


Presentation Summaries

The Revival of the Archaic: A History of Art and Technology, James Petrillo

The Invention of Writing in Ancient Mesopotamia, John Hayes 

The Aztecs' Inheritance: the Development of Mesoamerican Technology, Alex Saragoza

The Industrial Revolution in Western Europe, Richard Abrams 

Wartime Atomic Bomb Projects, David Holloway 

Technology in China, Greg Rohlf

Technology, Society, and Culture in the 21st Century, Renate Holub

Designing a More Equitable Internet - case studies of designing social media systems for small farmers in India, and mapping systems for low-income youth in the Bay Area, Tapan Parikh