A provocative but rambling examination of technology’s perils.
A researcher considers the dangers posed by technology and the ways in which users are increasingly unprepared for them.
The benefits of technology are too obvious to invite dispute, but an entire intellectual field has materialized to debate its pitfalls. Mitroff (Why Some Companies Emerge Stronger and Better from a Crisis, 2005) throws his hat into that already crowded ring with his own contribution, which focuses on the neglected perspective of risk management. The author contends that the world is increasingly plagued by torturously complex difficulties—“wicked problems”—that brook no easy solution and are typically embedded within a tangled skein of other challenges. The only proper approach is a relentlessly creative interdisciplinary methodology, but technology enthusiasts are rarely good at this. They blithely believe technology itself will solve every problem, and in their ardor for progress, fail to even see glitches when they arise. In addition, they tend toward “splitting,” the simplistically binary division of the world into dueling categories like good and bad, or hard and soft. Mitroff calls this the “Technological Mindset,” which dismissively ignores the possibility that technological advances can cause societal disruption. The author lucidly discusses a crisis management mindset as a healthy counterpoint as well as various schools of ethical analysis that could be useful in evaluating problems related to the social impact of technology. He also recommends the creation of a regulatory agency that audits every new invention’s social consequences, with that assessment a prerequisite for its commercial adoption. Mitroff has a Ph.D. in engineering, and so is hardly a Luddite—embedded within his critique of technology is an earnest acknowledgment of its blessings. In addition, since 2006, he’s been a senior research affiliate at the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, and his expertise in this area is beyond reproach. He thoughtfully dissects the way an obsession with technology has not only blinded many to its more troublesome features, but also has diminished what counts as rational analysis. But the book is freighted with needless digressions—Mitroff inexplicably manages to discuss the Islamic State group and gun control. He also includes an analysis of the Technological Mindset from the perspective of the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, which yields no additional clarity, and pauses to explain to readers the elemental principles of argumentation. He has a knack for finding the most ingeniously circuitous route to further expound on a point already well-made. And his recommendation for an FDA-like agency to make “Social Impact Assessments” of new technologies doesn’t seem thoroughly considered. He never addresses the obvious disadvantages of such onerous regulation—especially given the rate at which new technologies arise—or the details of the agency’s composition. He also never discusses with any specificity the rational principles of its judgments, a glaring omission given that this kind of issue forms the thematic spine of the author’s study. At one point, he confusedly suggests some of the agency’s members be children.
A provocative but rambling examination of technology’s perils.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-3-319-95740-1
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf