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The Impact and Control of Technological Change

In 1971, the Cornell University Program on Science, Technology and Society developed an interdisciplinary course for undergraduates called The Impact and Control of Technological Change. The intent of the course is to develop the capacity of students to analyze a set of policy problems associated with technological change. This requires an unusual use of university resources. The course tries to innovate by drawing on faculty members from different disciplines whose research is in areas which could contribute to the understanding of specific policy issues. The course is concerned with public and private decision-making in areas requiring considerable expertise, and it emphasizes problems of controlling technological change within the economic and political constraints of the American system. The main issue explored is how recent demands for participation in decision-making can be reconciled with the need for expert judgment in technological decisions having broad public impact. The development and utilization of technology has had certain institutional imperatives-efficiency, specialization, concentration of public and private resources, and reliance on expertise. Management structures are generally organized to facilitate the coordination and integration of specialized activities in a rational manner. The tendency is to think in terms of large scale, centralized institutions. Salient operational values are professional autonomy, managerial control, and insulation from the uncertainties of the political process for the sake of efficiency. Counter to these organizational prerequisites for rational technical planning is a community-based participatory ethos: this has taken on increasing importance during the last decade as the negative side effects of both technological change and social interventions have become increasingly visible. Beginning with 'maximum feasible participation' in the war on poverty,