Mastering the Machine Revisited
Poverty, aid and technology
The 50-year struggle to harness technology in the fight against global poverty- and why is it taking so long?
Mastering the Machine Revisited is about the connection between poverty, aid and technology. It is about the search driven today by greater extreme poverty than has ever been known, and by a realization that the technologies applied to the problem have severe limitations. In this substantially revised edition, the author revisits the development problems of the 1980's to see what progress has been made. The book also revisits promising innovations, projects and people described in the first edition, discovering what lasted, what failed and why. It considers the developmental impact of new and accelerating phenomena: globalization, the explosion of information and communication technologies, increasingly complex emergencies, weaker governments, bigger companies and escalating debt. For the South, this is a time of immense technological opportunity and optimism. It is also a period of unimaginable poverty and hopelessness. And it is unlike any other period in history, for today, in addition to artisans and artists, farmers, machinists and dreamers, the direction of technology is influenced by bureaucrats, economists, faraway corporate planners, aid agencies and charities. Never before have so many non-technical people exerted so much influence on the advancement, retardation and direction of technology. Mastering the Machine Revisited is about the interaction between these people, and between poverty, aid and technology.
Published: 2000
Pages: 304
eBook: 9781780445144
Paperback: 9781853395079
Hardback: 9781853395147
Mastering the Machine Revisited is about the connection between poverty, aid and technology. It is about the search driven today by greater extreme poverty than has ever been known, and by a realization that the technologies applied to the problem have severe limitations. In this substantially revised edition, the author revisits the development problems of the 1980's to see what progress has been made. The book also revisits promising innovations, projects and people described in the first edition, discovering what lasted, what failed and why. It considers the developmental impact of new and accelerating phenomena: globalization, the explosion of information and communication technologies, increasingly complex emergencies, weaker governments, bigger companies and escalating debt. For the South, this is a time of immense technological opportunity and optimism. It is also a period of unimaginable poverty and hopelessness. And it is unlike any other period in history, for today, in addition to artisans and artists, farmers, machinists and dreamers, the direction of technology is influenced by bureaucrats, economists, faraway corporate planners, aid agencies and charities. Never before have so many non-technical people exerted so much influence on the advancement, retardation and direction of technology. Mastering the Machine Revisited is about the interaction between these people, and between poverty, aid and technology.
| ACRONYMS vii | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION ix | |||
| PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xi | |||
| PART ONE: THE FAILURE TO LEARN FROM FAILURE | |||
| I A tale of two worlds 3 | |||
| II Poverty in the South 22 | |||
| III The best of the West: thinking big 35 | |||
| IV The third sector and the Third World 48 | |||
| PART TWO: WHAT WE KNOW | |||
| V Technology in history: lies and promises 69 | |||
| VI Small is beautiful 86 | |||
| VII Farmers, food and forests 104 | |||
| VIII Post-harvest technologies 121 | |||
| IX Energy and power 137 | |||
| X The house that Jack built: construction materials 154 | |||
| XI Light engineering and the very late starters 171 | |||
| PART THREE: AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT | |||
| XII Sustainability: myths and reality 189 | |||
| XIII Perspectives on women and technology 200 | |||
| XIV Employment and the informal sector: the economists lose control 214 | |||
| XV Globalization, adjustment and all that 226 | |||
| XVI Mastering the machine 246 | |||
| NOTES 262 | |||
| BIBLIOGRAPHY 279 | |||
| INDEX 282 |
Ian Smillie
Ian Smillie has lived and worked in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Bangladesh. He was a founder of the Canadian NGO, Inter Pares, Executive Director of CUSO and he was a leader in the campaign to end “blood diamonds.” He has worked as a development consultant with many Canadian, British, American and European organizations and he is the author of several books.
Vulnerability, Partnerships and the Pursuit of Survival: Urban Livelihoods and Apprenticeship Contracts in a West African City
Hanson, Kobena
GeoJournal, Vol. 62 (2005), Iss. 1-2 P.163
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-005-7915-1 [Citations: 5]Rural mechanisation: a review of processes, policies, practice and literature
Gass, G. M.
Biggs, Stephen D.
Project Appraisal, Vol. 8 (1993), Iss. 3 P.157
https://doi.org/10.1080/02688867.1993.9726905 [Citations: 9]Designs on development: engineering, globalization, and social justice
Nieusma, Dean
Riley, Donna
Engineering Studies, Vol. 2 (2010), Iss. 1 P.29
https://doi.org/10.1080/19378621003604748 [Citations: 147]The Pursuit of Human Well-Being
The Role of Technology in the History of Well-Being: Transformative Market Phenomena Over Time
Selian, Audrey N.
McKnight, Lee
2017
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39101-4_19 [Citations: 9]The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology
Technology and Development
Trace, Simon
2018
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1459 [Citations: 0]Validated Risk Identification Tool for ICT in International Development Co‐operation Projects
Kemppainen, Jyri
Mpogole, Hosea
Tedre, Matti
Chachage, Bukaza
THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, Vol. 64 (2014), Iss. 1 P.1
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2014.tb00460.x [Citations: 0]The role of company image as brand equity
Ross‐Wooldridge, Barbara
Brown, Mark P.
Minsky, Barbara D.
Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 9 (2004), Iss. 2 P.159
https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280410534357 [Citations: 10]Technologie-Praxis „Angepaßte Technologie“
Zusammenfassende Erörterung von AT-Konzepten und sie charakterisierende Dimensionen und Merkmale
Bierter, Willy
1993
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-90128-6_2 [Citations: 0]The effects of industry characteristics on the sources of technological product and process innovation
Liang, Hua
Zhang, Zongyi
The Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 37 (2012), Iss. 6 P.867
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-011-9206-y [Citations: 15]Challenging knowledge hierarchies: working toward sustainable development in Sri Lanka’s energy sector
Nieusma, Dean
Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, Vol. 3 (2007), Iss. 1 P.32
https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2007.11907990 [Citations: 6]The Internet and other ICTs as tools and catalysts for sustainable development: innovation for 21st century
Zelenika, Ivana
Pearce, Joshua M.
Information Development, Vol. 29 (2013), Iss. 3 P.217
https://doi.org/10.1177/0266666912465742 [Citations: 21]Development Institutions and Small-Scale Enterprises in Ghana
Arthur, Peter
Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol. 25 (2007), Iss. 3 P.417
https://doi.org/10.1080/02589000701662418 [Citations: 10]Risk Identification Tool for ICT in International Development Co‐operation Projects
Kemppainen, Jyri
Tedre, Matti
Parviainen, Panu
Sutinen, Erkki
THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, Vol. 55 (2012), Iss. 1 P.1
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2012.tb00391.x [Citations: 4]Technology Support for Small-scale Industry in Developing Countries: A Review of Concepts and Project Practices
Romijn, Henny
Oxford Development Studies, Vol. 29 (2001), Iss. 1 P.57
https://doi.org/10.1080/13600810124790 [Citations: 15]Engineering and Society: Working Towards Social Justice Part I: Engineering and Society
2009
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-79949-5 [Citations: 4]Technology adoption and Sub-Sahara african agriculture: The sustainable development option
Durosomo, Babatunde
Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 10 (1993), Iss. 4 P.58
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217561 [Citations: 4]International humanitarian engineering
Vandersteen, J.D.J.
Baillie, C.
Hall, K.
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Vol. 28 (2009), Iss. 4 P.32
https://doi.org/10.1109/MTS.2009.934998 [Citations: 26]Development by Technology Seeding
Moseson, Alexander J.
Lama, Lewis
Tangorra, James
Journal of International Development, Vol. 27 (2015), Iss. 4 P.489
https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.2874 [Citations: 4]Development Projects and ICT: A Review of Non‐Technical Aspects
Kemppainen, Jyri
Tedre, Matti
Sutinen, Erkki
THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, Vol. 63 (2014), Iss. 1 P.1
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2014.tb00449.x [Citations: 0]You might also like:
