Trapped in the Net - Hardcover

Rochlin, Gene I.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691010803 ISBN 13: 9780691010809

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Voice mail. E-mail. Bar codes. Desktops. Laptops. Networks. The Web. In this exciting book, Gene Rochlin takes a closer look at how these familiar and pervasive productions of computerization have become embedded in all our lives, forcing us to narrow the scope of our choices, our modes of control, and our experiences with the real world. Drawing on fascinating narratives from fields that range from military command, air traffic control, and international fund transfers to library cataloging and supermarket checkouts, Rochlin shows that we are rapidly making irreversible and at times harmful changes in our business, social, and personal lives to comply with the formalities and restrictions of information systems.


The threat is not the direct one once framed by the idea of insane robots or runaway mainframes usurping human functions for their own purposes, but the gradual loss of control over hardware, software, and function through networks of interconnection and dependence. What Rochlin calls the computer trap has four parts: the lure, the snare, the costs, and the long-term consequences. The lure is obvious: the promise of ever more powerful and adaptable tools with simpler and more human-centered interfaces. The snare is what usually ensues. Once heavily invested in the use of computers to perform central tasks, organizations and individuals alike are committed to new capacities and potentials, whether they eventually find them rewarding or not. The varied costs include a dependency on the manufacturers of hardware and software--and a seemingly pathological scramble to keep up with an incredible rate of sometimes unnecessary technological change. Finally, a lack of redundancy and an incredible speed of response make human intervention or control difficult at best when (and not if) something goes wrong. As Rochlin points out, this is particularly true for those systems whose interconnections and mechanisms are so deeply concealed in the computers that no human being fully understands them.

About this title

About the Author

Gene I. Rochlin is Professor of Energy and Resources at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Individual Fellowship for Research and Writing in International Security and of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.

From the Back Cover

"This is a major work of synthesis and insight that will prove invaluable not only to scholars and students but also to policymakers, large-system designers, and others concerned with the role of computers in society. Rochlin has mastered an amazingly broad body of literature, grasped its deeper implications, and presented his results in a highly readable form, well peppered with anecdote and narrative. He has also, and most importantly, hit upon the most important characteristic of the society-wide electronics infrastructures now being put into place: that such systems are socio-technical in nature and cannot be understood as mere hardware and/or software."--Paul N. Edwards, Author ofThe Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse

From the Inside Flap

"This is a major work of synthesis and insight that will prove invaluable not only to scholars and students but also to policymakers, large-system designers, and others concerned with the role of computers in society. Rochlin has mastered an amazingly broad body of literature, grasped its deeper implications, and presented his results in a highly readable form, well peppered with anecdote and narrative. He has also, and most importantly, hit upon the most important characteristic of the society-wide electronics infrastructures now being put into place: that such systems are socio-technical in nature and cannot be understood as mere hardware and/or software."--Paul N. Edwards, Author of The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse

Reviews

". . . computerization is leading us into pretty dire straits. In financial markets, warp-speed automated trading creates opportunities for fraud and moves us further away from a stable investment climate. In the office, computers promise efficiency, but bring fragmented knowledge and reduced autonomy to workers. There's worse news. Pilots in the 'glass cockpits' of modern airplanes have too much data to interpret, and nuclear power plant operators are less likely to have an intuitive feel for things going wrong 'on the floor'. Most sobering of all is the discussion of automation and the military."

Computer good, lead pencil bad--that may encapsulate popular attitudes about PCs, but Rochlin's work cautions against thinking of computers as an unmitigated boon. Though on the scholarly side, his straightforward argument should be apparent to those managing and promoting increasing computerization: that greater dependence on computers implies greater disasters when they fail. This has already happened in the stock-market crash of 1987 and in crashes of highly computerized airplanes, two of several areas Rochlin examines. Even if computer systems work perfectly, they are unforgiving of human error, as when an American cruiser shot down an Iranian passenger jet in 1988. Even in less catastrophic contexts, in ordinary organizations, the computer (especially the mania to keep up with ever-more sophisticated hardware and programs) requires money and know-how that is typically a financial drag, not a productivity boost. Rochlin ends with an exploration of the new cyberized military and continues to pinpoint the unintended consequences that computer enthusiasts rarely think about, but should. Gilbert Taylor

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691010803
• ISBN 13: 9780691010809
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312