1st Edition
The Machine in Me An Anthropologist Sits Among Computer Engineers
Gary Lee Downey investigates the body/machine interface in his remarkable ethnography of computer engineers. Drawing on interviews, observations and personal interaction with engineers, he documents the everyday power of technology's dominant image in our society, a force widely regarded as monolithically progressive. The Machine in Me will lead the reader to understand how deeply connected we are to The Machine and how beneficial it would be for us to really understand ourselves and machines as partially configured of the other--we as part machine, machines as part human. In this way, we can begin to see both the power and limitations of technology.
Biography
Gary Lee Downey is Director of the Center for Science and Technology Studies at Virginia Tech.
"[T]his book makes an important contribution to the larger project of theorizing the relationship between technology and society. Downey prods readers to rethink the cultural boundary between technology and humanity and focuses much-needed attention on the dynamics of technology-in-use." -- Technology and Culture
"[A]musing and insightful observations about industry trade shows, sharp criticism of the national rhetoric of productivity in the United States in the 1980s." -- Technology and Culture