Science and Technology in Popular Culture

Author(s): Oscar Handlin

Source: Daedalus, Vol. 94, No. 1, Science and Culture (Winter, 1965), pp. 156-170
Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences
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OSCAR

HANDLIN

Science and Technology

In

our

in Popular Culture

the distinction
links often obscure
superficial
the
and technology.
Popular
thinking usually blurs
and
the
and
the Cadillac
the space vehicle,
miracle
difference;
drug
are the final
the H-bomb
the computer,
and dacron
of
products
is
that
validate
the
science.
of
Research
technology
enterprise
a
and what works has
The fact
claim to credibility.
development;
are conflated
that two distinct types of
in
these
activity
conjunctions
is rarely recognized.
between

culture,
science

Hence
the deep ambivalence
in
sci
attitudes
toward
popular
ence.
man
so
has
in
the
the
been
Rarely
widely
respected;
laboratory
never
so
an access
has he commanded
to public
and
ready
to
on
funds.
One
has
recall
the
effects
Amer
of
private
only
Sputnik
to estimate
ican education
the value set on his
the esteem
opinions,
accorded his achievements.
Yet the
vote
who
billions
people
gladly
for scientific research are far from
its inner character;
understanding
and the points of view associated with it have never been
altogether
to the culture even of the West. The
assimilated
"popular delusions'*
which
the scientist
encounters
with
surprise upon his occasional
are
outside
the
normal
the
beliefs of a world which
forays
laboratory
the learning he
uses, but does not understand,
develops.
distrust of science runs
Indeed, a deep underlying
through the
attitudes
of
most
in
the
nations.
advanced
Para
accepted
people
the
the
wires
and
the myste
retorts,
doxically,
bubbling
sparkling
as the source of a grave threat. Their
rious dials are often
regarded
in the
white-coated
manipulators,
popular
image, have ominously
use to
seized a power which
injure mankind.
they may
To disentangle
science,

technology,

the knotted

threads

and popular

of the
relationships
it is necessary

attitudes,

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between
to trace

Science and Technology

two centuries
in process. The com
a
that
of
long development
product
involved.*
far back in time to locate the proto
us with a
community who supplies
He
the
of
starting point.
peasant
occupied
fifty
Europe
villages
and in its over
years ago. A century before that, in that continent
seas
towns and
outposts, he was the predominant
figure both in the
in the
still
exist
in
Survivors
that have
countryside.
today
places
resisted
change.
The characteristic
feature of the Ufe of such persons was tradi
tion?an
of the universe which
understanding
passed with minor
modification
to generation
from generation
and which
anticipated
all the decisions
the individual was called on to make. The great
events of birth,
and death, and the lesser ones of
marriage
sowing
and reaping, of
and
of contriving
and fabricating,
digging
building,
were
alike governed
a code that was
in that it
by
self-validating
answered
conceivable
with
The
conviction.
tradition
every
question
also bore the sanctions of secular and sacred
and
authority,
enjoyed
the support of all communal
institutions.
It marked
out an area of
action within which man could
little freedom
operate with relatively
but with
immense
The
security.
persons who moved
exceptional
those
limits
and
were
tradition
beyond
rejected
individually
impor
tant for their
but they did not before
the nineteenth
creativity,
influence the mass of men who were content to do
century greatly
and believe as their fathers had.
Tradition
both the ways
of
of
governed
doing and the ways
It
set
the
the artisan guided his tools,
knowing.
patterns by which
the husbandman
his plow. It also gave
on the
responses
satisfying
occasions when
they wondered
why; for it supplied a comprehen
sible explanation
for the affairs of the visible and invisible world.
The ways of
were not identical with
the ways of
doing
knowing,
but they were associated
in the
through common reference points
traditions of the
community.
The disruptive
forces that broke in upon these communities
al
themselves
felt
in the
ready made
eighteenth
century;
they
mounted
in
in the nineteenth;
and they have become
the
intensity
dominant
factors in the social
our
own
of
time.
The
disorganization
that have been almost
changes
of
the present are the
plexities
has altered each of the elements
We do not have to go very
type of the fixed man in a fixed

*
Handlin,

Some

of

the

"Man

Scholar, XXXIII

themes
and

Magic:

of

this
First

treated
essay were
Encounters
with

in another

context

the Machine,"

in Oscar
American

(1964), 408 ff.

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OSCAR HANDLIN

migration
weakened
geneity,

of vast

and industrialization
urbanization
populations,
institutions.
The hetero
the cohesive
force of inherited
new social structures
and
of
the
individualism
impersonality,

demanded
sapped the strength of tradition. And novel conditions
was no
No
modes
of acting and
which
there
for
precedent.
thinking
or restore the old
matter how
to
preserve
earnestly people
struggled
and its traditions, they could not stay the transformation.
community
al
Their ways
of knowing
of doing and their ways
changed,
was con
in different fashions. In the one case, development
though
and unpredictable.
tinuous
and contro??ed,
in the other abrupt
and bore the
features
had
familiar
however
Technology,
dangerous,
was alien
of service to man;
beneficent,
science, however
promise
and threatened
to overwhelm
when the two seemed
him. Ultimately
to fuse,
failed
popular understanding
entirely.
continu
The ways of doing, which became
unfolded
technology,
Man
the
had
tinkerer
the
of
the
from
past.
always
experience
ously
in this respect was not
labor; and tradition
sought to spare himself
static. The first machines
of the eighteenth
and the nine
entirely
centuries were
extensions
of
teenth
familiar
techniques.
simply
an ever livelier pace on
Social and economic
conditions
imposed
not altogether
novel. There
these developments,
but they were
was no sudden severance of the essential continuity
of the processes
were
of fabrication.
The machines
themselves
of
the inventions
use
was
and
with
their
assimilated
gifted artisans;
surprising equa
nimity.
The experience
of factory labor was not altogether
discontinuous
or iron, were not
whether
with
the past. The machines,
of wood
the great drive shafts and pulleys
totally strange. The waterwheels,
no
new princi
that dominated
these plants,
embodied
essentially
were
To
in
onlookers
their
and
they
impressive
ples.
ingenuity
was
manner
of their operation
power, but the
clearly visible and
seemed but to extend and improve devices with which men had
Nor was the physical
long been acquainted.
setting totally different.
in the countryside,
The earliest factories appeared
not far removed
of open fields, streams and woods.
from the familiar landscape
For
a
and
while
time
used
the
of
waterpower,
appearance
they
long
the mills was more complex than those familiar to every man, essen
were not too different.
It was characteristic,
for instance,
tially they
to
conceive
novels
that one of the earliest American
of in
Utopian
man
as a way of
a
labor
had
vention
from
liberating
thoroughly
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Science and Technology

rural setting. InMary Griffith's Three Hundred Years Hence ( 1836),
great machines,
agriculture.
Now
and

moved

by

some

internal

power,

did all the work

of

ex
new contrivances
by
displaced
riots and in poUtical hostility
Luddite
their resentment?in
pressed
the masses
But
to the
of
employed
actually
corporations.
growth
shock. The village
situation without
at the machines
their
accepted
laborer who took a job in the mill was more sensitive to the transi
of the plow
tion from rural to urban life than to the abandonment
suffered from difficult conditions
these people
for the loom. Often
of life. But their
of labor and from even more difficult conditions
then

craftsmen

in the human
a sense of confidence
by
tempered
of human
were
the
that
to master
the devices
products
capacity
were sure that man could control and use the enor
ingenuity. They
mous power of the machines.
could also be regarded as mans
invention
liberator,
Therefore,
en Icarie.
it would
be in Voyage
as Etienne Cabet had
suggested
that began at the Crystal Palace in
In the series of great expositions
in 1851 and ran down through the end of the nineteenth
London
the focal point was often the array of new machinery
century,
to the
commissioners
treated as symbolic of the age. The American
of ob
six
volumes
of
1867
Paris Universal
published
Exposition
to
on the devices
there. In the introduction
exhibited
servations
trials were

that
H. Seward explained
of State William
their report, Secretary
of
labor"
that
the
of
it was "through the universal
products
language
Industrializa
hold communication."
"the artisans of all countries
tion was "in the interests of the mass of the people," for it promoted
of labor, and its paramount
of the true dignity
"an appreciation
as the basis of national wealth
and power."
claims to consideration
to
elevate man
confident
would
Seward was
that the machine
new

dignity.
The occasional
intellectual
were more
the machine
likely
to the social situation of the

a fear of
observers who
expressed
than not to attach their forebodings
the
against
factory. They protested
a routine that took
human
controUed
of
by
beings totally
bondage
no account of personality
and detached man from nature. The fac
those who served it by limiting their wills; and since
tory enslaved
it took no cognizance
it also limited their
of moral considerations,
of good over evil. Here workers
to
choices
make
assembled
ability
in numbers that theretofore had been brought together only
through
some form of servitude in the military
company and the ship's crew,
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OSCAR HANDLIN
the poorhouse
a
and the gaol?agglomerations
in which
rigid disci
that
curtailed
individual
the
coordination
freedom
pline
permitted
of many persons.
It was no coincidence
of the
that the architecture
common
had
in
factories
much
the
with
that
of
the
barracks,
early
camp,
military
lest the power
liberties.

and the prison.

of the machine

Hence
the humanitarian's
in this setting constrict

concern
personal

The
work
from nature
and from all
factory regime detached
other aspects of life. The machine
the alternations
of
disregarded
the seasons and the
rising and setting of the sun to operate at its own
and summer, day and
the laborers con
pace, winter
night. There
fronted the
a
was
in
that
enterprise
relationship
purely economic.
All those who entered the
so as detached
did
individuals.
factory
Within
its gates,
were not members
or
of
families
of groups,
they
but isolated integers, each with his own line on the
payroll; nothing
extraneous
counted. During
the working
hours, the laborers had no
other
identity than that established
by the job. From being people
who were parts of households,
known by a whole
community,
they
had been reduced to
being servants of the machine.
the nineteenth
By and large, nevertheless,
century clung to its
about
Edward
and the
optimism
technology.
John Macnie
Bellamy,
no
novelists
of
the
1880's
and
that the
1890's had
doubt
Utopian
machine would
liberate mankind
it created.
through the abundance
also harness man to its service. But
They did not deny that it would
welcomed
the
routine, the regularity and the order.
they
consequent
came to him
that the idea of Looking Backward
Bellamy
explained
when he "recognized
in the modern
system" the prototype
military
of the Industrial Army that manned
his utopia. The men of the year
2000 had "simply applied the
service
of universal military
principle
... to the labor
in
question." Consequent
gains
efficiency and afflu
ence would
for the solution of all the problems
release energies
of
freedom raised by industrial regimentation.
a
of these hopes
H. G. Wells
encyclopedia
perfect
suppUed
for the future. Beginning with his Anticipations
( 1902), a succession
showed the machine
and improving
of roseate works
transforming
more
ever
con
would
toward
evolve
centralized
which
human
life,
one
will
would
all
trol. One state, one language,
organize
ruling
men
units. Indeed there would be no need
into efficient productive
at all for human labor as a source of energy. "Were our political
and
as well contrived
to their ends as a
social and moral devices
only
... or an electric tram-car, there need now ... be
linotype machine
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Science and Technology

fears of
the anticipatory
toil in the world." Despite
appreciable
those concerned with the future of man's spirit, in the last analysis
a
of man and
remained
there was faith that the machine
product

no

would

obey

his command.

in the ways of knowing

aroused far greater uneasiness.
of the past had
in the solidary communities
institutions
as it had
and the
wisdom
Folk
vaUdated
practices.
explanations
all the
faith
embraced
the
of
custodians
authoritative
of
learning
a continuum
in
that
touched
accumulated
of
the
group
knowledge
every aspect of experience.
was
to know
related to doing. Men wished
Knowing
functionally
to
certain
The
when
because
be
particu
they wished
they acted.
or
were not critical; nor was the
larities of information
explanation
not
that were
value of any datum or concept. Minds
predictive
to
not
to
test
ideas?
the
of
did
seek
effectiveness
open
experiment
to any of the
indeed, the very concept of doing so with reference
concern
was
How
of
could one
human
unthinkable.
great subjects
the
worth
the
of
of
the
system?or
verify
efficacy
prayer?
open-field
as
In these matters, men wished
to know not in order to decide
courses of action, but in order to feel secure in
between
alternative

Changes
Traditional

the acts which

tradition in any case dictated.
was aware that there were ways
The community
of knowing
outside
the tradition,
free of its own oversight.
It regarded
them
with suspicion as black mysteries,
for they led to deviant actions and
reflected the workings
of strange, perhaps unholy powers. The here
the
the
the Jews, the witches,
and the magi
tics,
infidels,
Gypsies,
cians shared common
to
extent
the
that their abnormal
attributes
behavior was connected
with
knowl
illicit, that is, unsanctioned,
were at once feared and hated.
edge. Therefore
they
was
on
from the start suspect
Modern
scientific
enterprise
same
was
it
somewhat
the
grounds. Although
long sheltered in estab
lished clerical
universities
and the church?its
institutions?the
were
detached
from
but their own
any
community
practitioners
from those of other men. Whatever
and their basic goals differed
to tradition,
formal obeisance
the scientists made
their ultimate
was
than
rather
for
unsettled
rather
quest
certainty. They
change
than confirmed accepted beliefs because
truth was for them an end
in itself rather than a means
of explaining
and
justifying existing
habitual practices. They possessed
and exercised a magic,
the char
acter and purposes of which were unknown
to the uninitiate.
Science
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OSCAR HANDLIN
secrets that
to uncover
it threatened
smacked
of the forbidden;
were best left concealed. Hence
dread of what might
the widespread
it had
come of it in the
centuries when
and nineteenth
eighteenth
institu
had
and
considerable
developed
acquired
independence
tions of its own.
tensions about its effects persisted,
though the underlying
in
unorthodox
the nineteenth
opinions
century
progressed,
war
even
with
the
time encountered
and
less opposition;
theology
of science
tolerance
The growing
lost its point and its bitterness.
social
was a factor of its
to new, but increasingly
important,
utiUty
or
the
the gentry
among
groups. Entrepreneurial
types, whether
above ascriptive
achievement
middle
classes, who valued personal
and the entrenched
status and who
inherited
tradition
regarded
as the sources of restraints upon their desire to fulfill
community
Even

as

in their
were
to be
and calculating
Ukely
experimental
a
to
There
to
reason
as
action.
esteem
habit
above
attitudes,
guide
men
was
a
the mobile
in
to
be
of
such
incidence
pop
Ukely
high
ulations
ethnic groups and
of the growing
cities, among marginal
to new
within
various
sects; but personaUties
receptive
dissenting
those social limits. Increas
ideas were by no means
confined within
that
found attractive
the kinds of knowledge
ingly, such persons
science generated.
to its own practi
The expanding
scientific
appealed
enterprise
as a mode
tioners on abstract
of
uncovering
progressively
grounds,
the truth?a
in itself. But it also drew the support of a widen
good
the ways
of doing, demon
ing circle by its utiUty in improving
for instance,
in
of
claims
strable
results. The
astronomy,
practical
were
in
of
the methods
navigation.
advancing
long since familiar
same token, were
instruments
and biology,
by
by the
Geology
to
and agriculture. Dis
of mining
which
develop better techniques
have a comparable
effect
in physics
coveries
and chemistry would
a conventional
upon industry. The
justification
by utility became
tactic of the nineteenth
century.
The linkage of science with practice was clearest, most dramatic,
of
This was a field in which ways
in medicine.
and most effective
one
and
in
were
of
with
connected
ways
doing
intimately
knowing
From
the mid
the welfare
of every man was concerned.
which
to
the conviction
nineteenth
grew that the way
century onward,
area the
in
Since
this
health passed through the medical
laboratory.
he
scientist had access to clinical materials
only through practice,
him
the belief, which
had a stake in nurturing
patients,
brought
themselves,

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Science and Technology

results in the cure of
yield measurable
uni
of hospitals,
?lness. By the end of the century the association
was
the
in a firmly articulated
and laboratories
versities,
complex
of the union of science and technology.
visible manifestation
claims were being heard from newer
also
then
comparable
By
and economic
Political
the social sciences.
including
disciplines,
of other sorts
and
and
relationships
family
interpersonal
systems
the proper organiza
which
were subject to
of
their
own,
pathologies
sense
in this broadest
Science
tion of knowledge
could ameliorate.
took every human concern as its province.
of science
of the preeminence
to all these assertions
Common
was
in
world
man's
was
that
the assumption
every deficiency
would
of
as
a
correct
to
the
which
definable
ways
knowing
problem
of this ar
an
The staggering
solution.
optimism
appropriate
supply
our
science
own
with
times
into
and
endowed
ticle of faith endured
the vital force to sway the opinions of the increasing numbers of its
use of intelli
that the organized
it promised
clients. Ultimately
man.
gence, through its procedures, would perfect
folk
Traditional
of opinion was never complete.
The conquest
in the more
stable communities
and
its hold
retained
wisdom
that his ministrations

would

beliefs
Familiar
and prac
among the less adaptable
personaUties.
the deviations
from a norm which
But they became
tices persisted.
in the society as a whole
and which
had secured broad acceptance
were
a
buttressed
formidable
twentieth
the
array of
century
by
by
institutions.
a subtle
about
the conse
however,
foreboding
Significantly,
even
most
to the
the
individuals
disturbed
quences
susceptible
of science. Again
and again, a half
claims of the beneficence
fear creeps into the imaginative
admitted
efforts to envision the fu
ture. An early nineteenth-century
version of a myth gave
popular
to trouble even men committed
form to the dread that continued
to
science.

seeks knowledge
young scientist who
the secret of life through the
study of
and
and
to
his
formula
chemistry,
electricity,
applies
galvanism,
a
The monster,
create
machine-monster.
however,
quickly proves
the machine
the superior. In the confrontation,
himself
gives the
orders: "Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved
of my condescension.
Remember
that I have
unworthy
yourself
... I can make
so wretched
that
the
you
power.
light of day will
to you. You are my creator, but I am your master;?
be hateful
Frankenstein,
to help mankind,

a dedicated
discovers

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OSCAR HANDLIN

obeyl"
though
malice.

The monster
it was neither

master
of man, al
the oppressive
becomes
evil to begin with nor created out of deliberate

the
later recalled
the circumstances
under which
Mary
Shelley
to her husband
and
idea came to her, in 1816, while
she listened
Lord Byron pass the
in talk by the shores of Lake
long evenings
Leman. Often their conversation
turned to science, and particularly
to the mystery
in creating
life
of electricity
and to experiments
came
a
the
to her of
vision suddenly
dread
through galvanism. And
ful "effect of any human endeavour
to mock
the stupendous mech
anism of the Creator
in the
of the world." The
inherent
impiety
of
which
invited
retribution.
magic
they spoke
a subtitle, The Modern
Prome
gave her novel
Mary
Shelley
a theme
theus. It was
had also treated,
and
that her husband
to recur in
continue
that had recurred
for centuries
and would
Western

In another form that theme also ap

imaginative writing.
a demonic
un
in
of
Faust
the
pears
retellings
legend of
personaUty
to respect the unfathomable.
willing
to shud
Even
the most
imaginations
optimistic
long continued
der with
exclaims
H.
that primitive
fear. "This accursed
science,"
it offers
G. Wells,
"is the very Devil.
You tamper with
it?and
in
you gifts. And directly you take them it knocks you to pieces
some
new
Old
and
it
way.
weapons?now
up
unexpected
passions
sets your
now it
now it whirls you
upsets your social ideas,
religion,
off to desolation
and misery!" The ability to work miracles
leaves
the world "smashed and
utterly destroyed."

communities
of disrupted
and changing
this perspective
Within
the
of
the developments
ways of doing and knowing,
past seventy
There was always a grudg
five years become more comprehensible.
in the victory of science and
Now the
technology.
ing acquiescence
in the new ways,
the
inner changes
of the
despite
magnitude
mass
to which
further
alienated
the
achievements
contributed,
they
of men, and heightened
the suspicion of the power thus created.
the structural
the middle
of the nineteenth
From
century,
life proceeded
isolated science from modern
that
rapidly
changes
became
and radically. Knowledge
and
specialized,
professionalized,
were
The three tendencies
and each
interrelated
institutionalized.
had the effect of creating a closed body of skills and information.
was the
product of forces inside and outside science.
Specialization
of data stored up in libraries made
The mere
accumulation
it in
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Science and Technology

than a limited
to master more
difficult for an individual
creasingly
sector of any field. It seemed to foUow that the more Umited the
and that, in itself,
field the more
readily could it be mastered;
further encouraged
In
the emphasis
addition,
upon
specialization.
as the first
classification
in
induced
all
inductive
step
learning
scientists to mark out, and concentrate
and circum
in, a distinctive
tests for
scribed field of research. Finally,
the growing
rigor of the
it was a
validation
and
required
constantly
techniques;
improved
rare individual who
more
than one set. Science?at
commanded
of the
the province
any rate, for most of its practitioners?became
one
in
the
expert who excelled
subject he knew thoroughly.
The result was a high degree of compartmentalization,
the frag
mentation
into a multitude
of knowledge
of different
disciplines,
each familiar only to its own initiates. A chemist was not much more
or an
able to discourse with an astronomer
than with a sociologist,
a
over
economist with an
than
with
The
anthropologist
physicist.
of
some
matter
and
lines
lapping
techniques,
subject
language,
kept
of communication
was
each
field
but
known
open,
really
only to
those who specialized
in it.
to the great advances
contributed
of modern
Specialization
science. But it also demanded
such a high
of
competence
degree
that it, in fact, excluded
the amateur and made
the practice
of
science entirely professional.
now
a
Learning
required
prescribed
course of
it
preparation;
imposed defined canons of judgment and
and it developed
the esprit de corps of a coherent and
validation;
united group.
and professionalization
to insti
tended
specialization
so
science. Research
became
that no individ
expensive
or
ual could buy his own telescope,
and the
computer
cyclotron;
of scientific enterprise
fell into forms estab
organization
increasingly
lished by government,
and foundations.
business,
universities,
the great achievements
faciUtated
These characteristics
of the past
for the
century. They were also responsible
developing
gulf that set
scientists off from other men.
Finally,
tutionalize

of discovery magnified
the
pace and audacity
accelerating
the learned expert and the rest of
of the distance between
In 1900, the graduate of a
the population.
or
European
gymnasium
or of an American
could
the
ac
expect
lyc?e
college
knowledge
to retain some currency
lifetime. In
quired there
through his whole
to
to
who
wished
abreast
had
resist
1950, anyone
keep
desperately
a mounting
rate of obsolescence;
far more
although
people were
The
effects

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OSCAR HANDLIN
now
their schooling
them with
than formerly,
equipped
science
information
that could quickly
lose aU value. Furthermore
it ceased
grew ever less inclined to replace old with new certitudes;
state
to deal with deterministic
laws and yielded
instead tentative
ments
At the same time, it probed
the most
of probability.
impor
tant
confi
and did so with
increasing
aspects of human existence
educated

dence.
the fixed
Since Darwin's
day it had been busily destroying
universe
of tradition; now it made
clear that it offered no consola
of its own.
tory alternative
The popular
learned to tolerate
response was complex; people
as true,
its
science. They accepted
but not to assimilate
judgments
as authoritative.
since they were now validated
But they blocked
them out as irrelevant by
to adapt to them the beliefs or
refusing
to answer
The
of daily
life.
behavior
ability
correctly
questions
or
new
or
not
did
about the
astronomy
physics
modify
psychology
old views
and hell or about
about heaven
absolute
personal
The two kinds of knowledge
in uncomfortable
co-existed
morality.
juxtaposition.
it difficult
made
thus to isolate science
however,
a close, the new knowl
to
drew
the nineteenth
century
the
and altered the na
invaded
machine,
industry, changed
edge
ture of the factory; it then impinged directly upon the experience
of
an awareness
of its im
the laborer who
could no longer escape
plications.
was visual.
of the transformation
The most
striking indication
in 1900, the drive
In the factories
built
shafts and the pulleys
was transmitted
were no
and
longer visible. Power
through wires
the whole was covered up and shielded
hidden?and
tubes?often
so that the machine
of
self-contained
gave the appearance
being
The onlooker no longer saw a comprehensible
and autonomous.
ap
saw an enclosed
a hidden
source of
paratus; he
shape actuated by
the products flowed by an occult process.
power from which
in design were
to other pur
incidental
Some of the changes
Technology,
from life. As

of safety, for instance,

often produced
the
the mechanism
of operation. Other modifica
even those were related to the mean
although
men.
An unbroken
held for
sheet of black metal
ing the machine
to the eye than a
of
seemed more pleasing
and
complex
belting
to the idea of the machine
it
because
conformed
as
self
gears
contained.

poses. The demands

shields that concealed
tions were aesthetic,

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Science and Technology

to industry of electricity
human
experience.
important break with past
of elec
Men had been experimenting
with various manifestations
a
two
it
remained
for
hundred
but
force,
mysterious
years,
tricity
related to
somehow
somehow
confused with galvanic magnetism,
not as comprehen
the secret of life, but not
understood,
popularly
sible as water and steam power had been. Even after a multitude
of
men
how
it
had
few
could
into
grasp
every home,
appliances
brought
a current
sound or turned
passing
through a wire created light and
the wheels
the
of great machines.
Still fewer would
comprehend
in
the
of
involved
processes
application
knowledge
technological
or nuclear
to the instruments with
from electrochemistry
physics
which
they worked.
the machines
and their users widened
The gap between
steadily.
was in
no
was
In the twentieth
century it
longer the tinkerer who
to
were
be products
of industrial
ventor. The innovations
less likely
and
the
than
of
who
them un
science;
people
operated
experience
nor the technical
fund
the machines
derstood
neither
they served
The application
was an even more

to the machine

and

of knowledge
that dominated
industry.
of
But they could not fail to be aware that their own conditions
at the same time and in response
to
life and labor were changing
new technology. The
a new
the
forces generated
became
factory
by
and different kind of human environment
toward the end of the
nineteenth
involved were much
century. The numbers
larger than
era. The plant no longer counted
in any previous
its employees
in the scores, but in the thousands;
and that increased
its imperson
to
The
and
the
became
closer
army
ality
rigid discipline.
analogy
as individual
in
and more
diminished
identity
frightening
impor
tance. The hordes that passed through the gates each
had
morning
for and their time put to a precise, measured,
to be accounted
use. Before the end of the century, Frederick W.
profitable
Taylor
the principles
of industrial management;
had already outlined
and
of efficiency were
served with
the demands
increasing
severity as
the decades passed. Technological
innovation
became not only an
of
end in itself but also a means
greater control over
establishing
the labor force. The more
the
enterprises
enlightened
recognized
of human relations; but they did so as a means
of in
importance
and the devices
creasing their efficiency,
they used had the further
the lives of their
effect of manipulating
employees.
An

altered

personality.

environment

In the

second

increased
half

the external

of the nineteenth

pressures
century

upon
the fac
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OSCAR HANDLIN
tories had become urban, either through the growth in the size of the
towns in which
they had been located or through the shift to metro
were
centers.
All the difficulties
of industrial
politan
experience
therefore
The
the
the
and
machine,
compounded.
city
factory,
became
identified as a single entity oppressive
of man.
The optimists consoled
themselves with the vision of abundance
ma
new
of goods produced
the
regime and they hoped that the
by
own society
chine would
for
the
of
their
deficiencies
compensate
by
not deal
in the future the
resolving
they could
problems with which
saw it,
in the present. The Shape of Things to Come, as H. G. Wells
was dominated
was a
of in
industrial
that
product
by
plenitude
vention.
the engineers
that they could not
assumed
Self-consciously
run
as well;
the machines
and the
but manage
only make
society
a
technocrats
envisioned
and
mechanical
order?efficient,
antiseptic
of
with
capable
any contingency.
dealing
new ways
of uneasiness
of
Yet overtones
about the mysterious
a
In
also
1911, Henry
persisted.
laboratory
knowing
James, visiting
walled with cages of white mice,
at the
exclaimed
of
magnificence
the "divine power" exhibited
in cancer experiments.
But he also
wondered
about the personaUty
of the little creatures
in the wooden
cubicles. Other observers
also speculated
was
the
decisions
and
what
end.
toward
making

imprisoned
about who

therefore always offset the confidence

Doubts
about the results.
Karel Capek's R. U. R. in the 1920's created a sensation in its night
mare vision of a robot's universal which
hu
dominated
completely
The
of
the
Ren?
Clair
and
Charlie
manity.
greatest
popular artists,
in ? nous la libert? and Modern
Times, expressed an iden
Chaplin,
man
his
tical protest:
its slave, repressed
the assembly
line made
to
freedom
emotions, and crushed his individuality. He could escape
In Brave New World
and 1984,
only by revolt against the machine.
on
its head. The ne
stood utopia
and George Orwell
Aldous Huxley
lines, which pro
cessity for mobiUzing
large groups along military
established
vided Bellamy with his Industrial Army, to these writers
a

terrifying engine of oppression.

de
in these protests had a familiar ring; to a considerable
Much
of
the
criticisms
machine
artists
the
these
already
gree
repeated
of science in
in an earlier, simpler era. But the involvement
voiced
to
recent period diffused
the concern
of the more
the technology
much wider circles which had theretofore
equably accepted
change
now could not
in the ways
of doing but which
readily evade the
routine his role, the techni
need for new ways of knowing. However
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Science and Technology

at the keyboard?or,
the indiscriminate
for that matter,
to wonder
sometime what
occurred within
television-viewer?had
the box, the dials of which he turned.
Since the explanation
of the scientists was remote and incom
its need for
a
satisfied
prehensible,
large part of the population
own way.
the
with
in
side
its
Side
formally defined
by
knowing
a
science
there appeared
science,
vague,
undisciplined,
popular
It touched
the
and yet extremely
unordered
influential.
upon
science of the scientists, but did not accept its limits. And it more
it could more
of the people because
adequately met the requirements
to
the
which
accommodate
traditional
easily
they clung.
knowledge
science was not always
correct
less
the
Pragmatically,
popular
than the official. It would be hard to assert with confidence,
for in
were
stance, that faith healing, nature cures and patent medicines
re
of
the
ministrations
of
the
less
than
effective
graduates
always
or that the vision of the universe
medical
schools;
exposed
cognized
in the television
serial or Sunday supplement was less accurate than
cian

it
whether
By the tests of practice?of
as well as official science.
did
worked?popular
The deficiencies
of popular science were of quite another order.
or estab
It formed part of no canon that marked out its boundaries
rather of discon
lished order among its various parts. It consisted
tinuous
of fantasy and wish ful
often the projection
observations,
that of the physics

textbook.

science

and consistency.
Above
lacking coherence
save
was as easy
It
of validity
experience.
another world within
the crust of the earth
in outer space. One took the little
worlds
the spirits were
pills; the pain went away. One heard the knocking;
cause
connections
between
and result were
there. The observable
an
was
to
seek
of
unnecessary
explanation
enough. It
understanding
the links in the chain between
the two.
into the highly
and
The men and women who moved
complex
our times
of
industrial
assimi
elaborate
society
simply
technically
about them in terms of the one comprehensi
lated the phenomena
ble category they already knew, that of magic. And it was thus too
science of the laboratory and the
the defined
that they understood
man who
a button and saw the
The
university.
pressed
light ap
a
set
in motion,
and
the machine
switch
felt no
turned
who
pear,
or mechanics;
the
he
need to understand
per
operations
electricity
events
the Umited kind of sense that other mysterious
formed made
and generally
fillment,
no test
it
embraced
all,
to believe that there was
as that there were other

of life did. The machine,

which

was

product

of science, was

also
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OSCAR HANDLIN
it did, not of how or
only in terms of what
or of control;
the lack of comprehension
why
hence also the mixture of dread and anticipation.
seem unconnected
with
As in the past, the new ways of knowing
are con
to
of
and
be
the
outsiders,
tradition,
appear
possession
sidered potentially
But for people who fly in jets and
dangerous.
an imminence
watch
it did not have earlier.
the
threat
has
television,
Those who blankly and passively
technology
depend upon modern
science without
feel
mastered
themselves
knowing
frequently
by

magic,

understandable
it worked.
Hence

why.
it is both
the more
The more useful science becomes,
therefore,
was
all
at
its
and
That
it
had
feared.
power
disposal
respected
now
creates
the
its
machine
force
and
the
along known;
compounds
men
that it is
into bondage.
The people who are
suspicion
buying
with
additional
years of life expectancy
simultaneously
delighted
and terrified by the bomb are in no
to strike the balance of
position
their gains and losses in happiness.
In their confusion,
they wonder
whether
the price of the gadgets which
delight may not be servi
tude to the remote and alien few who control the mystery.
to science
is thus ambivalent,
The popular
response
mingling
and
Con
lavish
enthusiasm,
anger
support and profound mistrust.
can
into the
the tension
ceivably
indefinitely
persist unresolved
future as it did in the past,
to
it
count
would
be
hazardous
although
on that outcome under
modern
conditions.
rapidly changing
uneasiness
of the new
about the consequences
The profound
is
if
science
of
will
be
ways
quieted
only
encompassed
knowing
its purposes
its
within
and connect
institutions which
legitimate
as it
is
with
the
insofar
Education
practitioners
populace.
helpful
to familiarize
of techniques
the diffusion
broad seg
goes beyond
ments
of the population
with
the basic concepts
and processes
of
never
science. But even those who
that
acquire
understanding
assurance
that there is a connection
between
the goals of
need
science and their own welfare,
and above aU that the scientist is not
a man

altogether

apart but one who

shares some of their own values.

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