An edition of Technology in world civilization (1990)

Technology in world civilization

a thousand-year history

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Last edited by MARC Bot
March 13, 2025 | History
An edition of Technology in world civilization (1990)

Technology in world civilization

a thousand-year history

  • 1 Have read

"Most general histories of technology are Euro-centrist, focusing on a main line of western technology that stretches from the Greeks through the computer. In this very different book, Arnold Pacey takes a global view, placing the development of technology squarely in a 'world civilization.' He portrays the process as a complex dialectic by which inventions borrowed from one culture are adopted to suit another. Pacey's argument is both original and compelling. He demonstrates that western technology is an amalgam of cross-fertilizations from the great civilizations of China, India, and Islam and from the apparently primitive cultures of peasant farmers in Africa or Inuit hunters in the Arctic. In a lively and readable style, Pacey explains exactly how technologies (which he broadly defines to include such critical practices as agriculture and health care) were diffused across Asia to Africa and Europe, and then back again. A failure to appreciate the importance of this type of dialogue, Pacey observes, has often led to misguided programs that have sought to impose technologies on less developed nations without allowing for responsive innovation. Covering the period from 700 to 1970, Pacey contrasts innovations based on critical survival needs with high technologies symbolizing the values of major civilizations. Examples include the Chinese gunpowder that provoked a more formidable cannon in Europe, Indian textile techniques that spurred the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and transistors from the United States that stimulated new kinds of consumer products in Japan. In many cases, Pacey notes, technology is less the result of a direct transfer than of the diffusion of stimuli. Even 'a mere rumor of an unfamiliar technique' could produce new ways to achieve similar results."--Jacket.

Publish Date
Publisher
MIT Press
Language
English
Pages
238

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Technology in World Civilization
Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History
July 1, 1991, The MIT Press, MIT Press
Paperback in English
Cover of: Technology in world civilization
Technology in world civilization: a thousand-year history
1990, Basil Blackwell
in English
Cover of: Technology in world civilization
Technology in world civilization: a thousand-year history
1990, MIT Press
in English - 1st MIT Press ed.
Cover of: Technology in world civilization
Technology in world civilization: a thousand-year history
1990, MIT Press
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Bibliography: p. 218-225. Includes index.

6

Published in
Cambridge, Mass

Classifications

Library of Congress
T15 .P353 1990, T15.P353 1990

The Physical Object

Pagination
xi, 238 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
Number of pages
238

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL21389581M
Internet Archive
technologyinworl0000pace
ISBN 10
0262161176
LCCN
89012801
OCLC/WorldCat
20131080
LibraryThing
326666
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1604/9780262161176
Goodreads
2658623

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL4102836W

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