Ignorance Explosion : Understanding Industrial Civilization.

Intro -- Contents -- List of illustrations -- List of tables -- List of "boxes -- Designation of references -- Abbreviations -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. The paradox of human progress -- Notes -- 2. Humanities, social and physical sciences: the two cultures -- The cultural gap -- The issue of accessibility -- The psychological gap -- Traditional culture and education -- The inescapable predicament of social sciences -- The ineradicable gap -- Notes -- References -- Appendix: Some gems of obfuscatory (sociological and other) jargon -- 3. Technology: the land of many faces -- The critics of technology -- Embracing the unknown -- The blessings and curses of industrial civilization -- Technology: a domain unique to the human species -- Extension of human capabilities -- People: the inhumane users of technology -- The dehumanizer and depersonalizer -- Technology the unforgiving -- The agent of constant change -- Population, environment and resources -- The causes of suffering -- The benefits of democratic industrialization -- The Third World and the West: the precarious gap -- Difficulties in the West -- Notes -- References -- 4. The ignorance explosion -- Human intellectual capacity -- The growth of science -- Specialization -- The complexity of science and the environment -- The immediacy and obsolescence of information -- The vanishing grasp -- New tools and techniques -- Some future limitations -- Superhumans and superscience -- Notes -- References -- Appendix: On estimating the magnitude of complexity -- 5. The brave new world of globalization -- The origins -- A historical perspective -- Continental integration: the United States -- Science: a precursor of globalization -- Toward a voluntary federation of nations -- A rough road to European Union -- Globalization of industrial operations -- Internationalization of labour.

Environmental challenge to sovereignty -- The relentless progress of globalization -- Notes -- References -- 6. Language in the service of identity-or communication? -- Latin: a historical illustration -- The communication imperative: India and Africa -- The communication imperative: China and Japan -- Toward efficient spelling -- English as the modern lingua franca -- The early imperatives of communication -- Science -- Diplomacy, international organizations, business and education -- Global audience and standards -- Internationalization of vocabularies and lifestyles -- Preservation of linguistic identity -- Toward a common language -- Notes -- References -- 7. Technology and war -- Nuclear weapons: what are they good for? -- The Maginot Line of the space age -- The missile systems game -- The supreme deterrent -- What makes deterrence effective? -- Containing the arms race -- The need for "minimal deterrent -- Notes -- References -- 8. Jettisoning the harness of biology -- Prolonging life-or death? -- Playing God -- The tyranny of sexual gratification -- Notes -- 9. Has vision been lost? -- Notes -- References -- Indexes -- Subject Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Name Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- Z.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.