Emannuel G. Mesthene vs. John McDermott

• Classic debate between an Optimist (Mesthene) and a Pessimist (McDermott).

• Debate occurred during the Vietnam war

• Most see the debate being between “the establishment” (Mesthene) and “the New Left” (McDermott)

Mesthene vs. McDermott (Cont.)

• Mesthene was the director of the Harvard Program on Technology and Society, and was funded by IBM in the amount of $5 million!

Mesthene: “The Role of Technology in Society”

• Technology creates new opportunities and new problems at the same time.

• This means that social restructuring has to take place to take advantage.

• Problems such as pollution are “negative externalities.”

• Technological society requires greater societal commitment because of all the social change.

Mesthene: “The Role of Technology in Society” (cont.)

• Does technology foster more societal involvement?

• “The ‘logic’ of modern decision making thus appears to require greater and greater dependence on ... the use of technological devices and scientific techniques” i.e. matters that used to be political debate should be left to technologists and scientists. This is a challenge.

John McDermott: “Technology: The Opiate of the Intellectuals”

• Sharp criticism of not only Mesthene, but his movement, i.e. the movement being the claim that science is self correcting.

• “… If religion was formerly the opiate of the masses, then surely technology is the opiate of the educated public today …”

• Does not like the view that the cure for problems with technology is more technology.

John McDermott (cont. 1)

• Mesthene abstracts technology, but when we look at specific technologies, we can see the problems.

• Look at the bombing in Vietnam, based on probability. US bombed locations based on information gathered and entered into a computer.

John McDermott (cont. 2)

• Technology: “… systems of rationalized control over large groups of men, events, and machines by small groups of technically skilled men operating through organizational hierarchy.”