In the service of man?

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Date
1992
Language
en
Type
News Item
Accessibility
Open Access
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Citation
CTA. 1992. In the service of man?. Spore 37. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Permanent link to cite or share this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/45700
External link to download this item: http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta37e/
Abstract/Description
Mastering the machine - poverty, aid and technology
Notes
From the earliest historical times, society has found that technology has been a cornerstone of successful development. The stone age, bronze age and iron age, together with steam, sail and jet ages, are all eras recognized for their levels of technological development. But what good is the technology without the knowledge or skills necessary to make it work successfully? It is all very well to give a farmer a new tractor, but if he lacks appropriate training to operate it, he is not likely to farm any more efficiently than before. There are now more nontechnical people such as bureaucrats, economists, corporate planners, or aid agency managers influencing the direction of technology in the developing regions than ever before. Mastering the machine examines the relationships between these 'technocrats' and poverty, aid and technology in the Third World. Split into three thematically separate sections the book examines the role of appropriate technology in the wider context of technology, aid and development, and examines what has been accomplished in the fight against poverty. The book covers the development of appropriate technology and traces its history through the various changes in thinking throughout the past three decades. Using historical and current examples, it attempts to illustrate the interaction between economic, social and technological factors that allow a particular technology to have a positive influence on poverty reduction. Covering the possibilities and the limitations of technology, alongside the successes and failures, the book points out that too many failures in the development field are repeated again and again. The final pages are devoted to notes on each chapter, a bibliography and comprehensive index. Mastering the machine - poverty, aid and technology by lan Smillie 1991 28Bpp UKL 14.95 ISBN 1 85339 096 8 IT Publications Ltd 103-105 Southampton Row London WC1B 4HH UK
Subjects
CROPS;
Organizations Affiliated to the Authors
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
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