From the Worldwatch Institute and the UN Environment Programme - a
smooth compendium of socially-responsible commonplaces about the
current global effects of technology: "the God that limps" - after
Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire and metal-working whose limp made
him the one imperfect Olympian. Norman's point, accordingly, is
that technology is neither good nor bad, but merely a reflection of
the economic and political forces in modern society. For
technology, he reminds us, the 1970s brought some new realities:
the end of cheap energy and raw materials; worldwide inflation and
a sagging global economy; a social environment critical of
unfettered capitalism. The technological initiative, however, still
rests with the industrial nations: the US, USSR, Europe, and Japan
jointly account for 97 percent of world research-and-development;
the preponderant US R & D military budget, moreover, yields
small returns on the investment dollar, generates few jobs, and
ties up scientific resources to the detriment of basic research.
Also, to meet competition from rapidly-developing nations in
traditional economic sectors, the industrialized countries must
encourage the growth of "high-technology, knowledge-intensive
industries such as computers, microelectronics, and biotechnology."
Taking the computer industry as a bellwether, Norman avers that
more computers eventually mean fewer jobs and an acceleration of
the present job shift out of industry into the tertiary sector
(finance, insurance, government, etc.). The less-developed
countries, meanwhile, are adversely affected by dependence on
imported, inappropriate technology - to be countered, preferably,
by technological cooperation among them. One cannot fault Norman's
general desiderata - whether the involvement of industrial workers
in the introduction of new technologies, or "the participation of
people at all levels in the planning and execution of development
programs." But none of this is visionary at this date, nor is it
incisive (for an acute, sophisticated analysis of the
technological/military symbiosis, see Mary Kaldor's The Baroque
Arsenal, p. 989). So it comes out as a bland catch-up and
consciousness-raiser - for students, chiefly, and other novices.
(Kirkus Reviews)
The God That Limps is a provocative analysis of the role of science
and technology in a world economy that has undergone fundamental
changes in the past few years. Colin Norman, a journalist and
former senior researcher with Worldwatch Institute, argues that the
mounting problems confronting rich and poor countries alike make
technological change more and more urgent. But at the same time,
they make the social impact of new technology more complicated.
Sponsored jointly by Worldwatch Institute and the United Nations
Environment Programme, The God That Limps challenges much of the
conventional wisdom about science and technology. Norman
demonstrates how the world s $150 billion per year investment in
research and development is more suited to the military needs of
the fifties than to the social needs of the eighties, and he argues
that current policies in countries such as the United States are
making the situation worse."
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