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Ursula M. Franklin: The Real World of Technology (Paperback, 1999, Anansi) 4 stars

In this expanded edition of her bestselling 1989 CBC Massey Lectures, renowned scientist and humanitarian …

very insightful in a short space

4 stars

Impressive set of lectures on the societal implications of technology - broadly, from ancient metalworking to sewing machines to electrification to military industrial arms - from a feminist pacifist horizontalist perspective. Franklin highlights ways in which technical choices obscure moving from holistically artisan to hierarchical control, from biological growth and uncertainty to manufacturing's obliviousness to context, and the false claims of liberation or ease from the introduction of new tech which turns to exploitation and makes us dependent on industrial supply and control.