The eventual application of a new technology is sometimes foreseen, but often considerable time is required before we understand what the device is for. The unexpected consequences about which Tenner entertainingly writes take us by surprise, even in an age of ecological awareness. As he shows, not only is a new technology to some degree an unknown quantity in the beginning, but its assimilation into the social, economic and cultural system of which it is a part is both complex and historically contingent. Seldom, it seems, are we particularly eager to think about the consequences. The promotional phase that moves us to experiment with new things may lead us to believe that the advertised benefits are without cost or fundamental alteration of our professional and personal lives.
Experience shows otherwise.
Tenner's argument suggests on the contrary that we cannot afford to be dumb, at least not for a long time to come. One might, however, wish for less of the anthropomorphic in the book. We already indulge too much in the apotheosis of our own devices, as if the benefits and threats were not of our own making. Her background is in art. She graduated in 1994 from the Slade School with a first class degree in Fine Art, where she specialised in sculpture and photography.