Title: Bad ideas? : an arresting history of our inventions /
Authors: Winston, Robert M. L.
Publisher: Bantam,
Year: 2010
Subjects: Inventions; Technology and civilization
Abstract: "We are born with the instinct to create and invent. Indeed our ability to do so is what separates us from the rest of the animal world. The moment man first converted a stone to a useful tool set him on a relentless path towards greater power over his environment. But have our creative ideas always produced desirable results in line with their original good intention? Have they always served us well?" "Bad Ideas? traces the history of our attempts at self-improvement but also questions their value. The dubious consequences of the development of weaponry, for example, are self-evident. But what of apparently more innocuous advances such as farming, writing or medicine and the harvesting of fire? Science has produced huge good but has also had unforeseen consequences which seem increasingly to threaten our existence. Can science and scientists find solutions to the perils which now menace us?" "We join Robert Winston on a thrilling journey from our earliest days to the present, written against a huge historical canvas.We learn about the history of science and engineering, following the unexpected twists and turns of progress. We meet some key individuals along the way and share quirky anecdotes about their lives and brainwaves. Inspiring, unusual and at times controversial, Bad Ideas? assesses the past and looks forward to the opportunities and ethical challenges of the future. In so doing it celebrates man's extraordinary capacity for achievement and offers a hopeful way forward to protect humanity against what sometimes seem like bad ideas."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: Introduction. Too Clever by Half? -- 1. Brightest Heaven of Invention -- 2. Appetite for Destruction -- 3. Grinding Existence -- 4. Animal Farm -- 5. Wild and Whirling Words -- 6. Digital Communication -- 7. Right Promethean Fire -- 8. Sulphurous and Thought-executing Fires -- 9. Oil that Maketh Man's Heart Glad -- 10. Physician, Heal Thyself -- 11. Genetics: Potent Art or Rough Magic? -- 12. Scientists and Citizens: Twelve Aphorisms and a Manifesto.