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