Talk:Kranzberg's laws of technology

Do we really need to put this page and the page for "Melvin Kranzberg" on separate pages? Both are pretty short. I'd recomend a redirect or a merge, although my skills aren't good enough to try to implement one. Schrodinger82 06:26, 19 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

is not invention the mother of necessity?

Most of technology development tends to fall into one of two categories. It's either a problem looking for a solution, or a solution looking for a problem.

The former case is the more traditional one, and how most people look at the subject. You need to do something and by gum you go out and satisfy that need. In terms of large scale technology development, this is sometimes also referred to as "marketplace pull" or "battlefield pull".

When invention is the mother of necessity, a solution is looking for a problem. You have developed something and now you need to try and figure out what the heck it is good for. Typically this is also known as "government push", and even more typically it arises because some culture has a vested interest in using a specific technological solution that has already been developed for application in some other area. Perhaps the classic example of "government push" is the U.S. search for "peaceful" uses of nuclear fission material.

Err?

We had to learn how to control the fission process BEFORE we made it into a weapon. This control was a nuclear reactor that eventually was developed into our various forms of modern nuclear power plants. By the time we needed to find a use for former nuclear weapon material, nuclear reactors had been used to produce safe clean power for decades, with a few notable exceptions, primarily Chernobyl. Pure research (with little or no application in mind) are primarily the domain of educational institutions, I would think. Governments usually have a specific goal of some sort in mind.

It's a joker!

Looked it up with google. found 2 sourcess: http://knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Kranzberg%27s_Laws_of_Technology/ And http://www.onpedia.com/encyclopedia/Kranzberg%27s-laws-of-technology

Both on 5 of March 2009, both stating the same:

Melvin Kranzberg's 6 Laws of Technology state:

   1st - Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral. 
   2nd - Necessity is the mother of Invention. 
   3rd - Technology comes in packages, big and small. 
   4th - Although technology might be a prime element in many public issues, nontechnical factors take precedence in technology-policy decisions. 
   5th - All history is relevant, but the history of technology is the most relevant. 
   6th - Technology is a very human activity, and so is the history of technology.

References:

   * Kranzberg, Melvin. "Technology and History: 'Kranzberg's Laws.'" Technology and Culture 27 (1986): 544-560.
   * Kranzberg, M (1997) "Overview: Technology and History: Kranzberg's Laws", in Reynolds, TS and Cutcliffe, SH (Eds) Technology and the West: A Historical Anthology from Technology & Culture, University of Chicago Press.   —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ichtros (talk • contribs) 12:53, 5 March 2009 (UTC) [reply]