Minding the Machines: Preventing Technological Disasters

Preface

We live in an age of breathtaking technological innovation. Two developments of the 20th Century—the computer and the Internet—have revolutionized our everyday lives, transforming the way millions of people communicate, do their work, fall in love, and even buy birthday gifts. But while technological innovations have transformed and enhanced our lives in myriad ways, they have also created the potential for technological disasters of unimaginable consequences. We are vulnerable in ways we have never been vulnerable before. And yet, to turn the clock backward and eliminate machines from our lives is impossible. We are therefore faced with the challenge of minding the machines—of anticipating and preventing technological disasters. At the ...