The Story of Technology: How We Got Here and What the Future Holds

Gerstein (National Security and Arms Control in the Age of Biotechnology: The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention), former deputy under secretary in the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, ponders technology’s implications for humanity in this thought-provoking study. Concisely defining technology as “the practical application of knowledge,” he dates it back to the development of “hand axes and large cutting tools” almost two million years ago. His review explores the increasing pace of innovation, so that now “events in one part of the world have implications for [those] thousands of miles away,” while policy makers and regulators struggle to keep up. That development is especially worrisome, given how the cutting-edge areas he identifies—biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things—might change “the very essence of human existence.” Gerstein occasionally lapses into excessive jargon use (“Such decisions should include the priorities and funding for S&T, R&D, and I&M”), but, on the whole, his approach is invitingly accessible, as in his concluding section devoted to broad but simply phrased questions such as, “Will it be possible to halt the changing of what it means to be human?” As a result, this will be a useful starting point for anyone concerned about humanity’s future. (Aug.)