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The article discusses the relationship between new media and transportation technologies as seen by intellectuals and business figures in the interwar U.S. According to the author, both critics and promoters of new technologies conflated connectivity and communication technology. It is suggested that while communication and transportation technologies are often seen as compressing physical distances, communication industries in the interwar era sought to stretch the distances which Americans could traverse in their daily lives. Topics discussed include mechanization, leisure time, radio -listening, and the role of technology in everyday life.

The article focuses on the social aspects of technology. It explains that devices such as cellular telephones and alarm clocks do not function without input from people and it is suggested that these devices are increasing demands on society. The types of modifications involved in interpersonal communication are discussed and a framework for human-computer interaction (HCI) research is presented. The design of software and devices to be courteous is examined and different scenarios of machine-human interaction are assessed.

Research in nanotechnology has advanced rapidly in recent years. Several researchers, however, warn that there is a paucity of research on the ethical, legal, and social implications of nanotechnology, and they caution that ethical reflections on nanotechnology lag behind this fast developing science. In this article, the authors question this conclusion, pointing out that the predicted concrete ethical issues related to the area of nanotechnology are rather similar to those related to the area of biotechnology and biology that have been considered by ethicists since the 1970s. Hence, a knowledge base has already been acquired from ethical reflections on biotechnology and biology, which may be a good starting point and foundation for a discussion of ethical reflections on nanotechnology. The authors argue that a promising approach is the use of basic ethical principles as a method to analyze ethical issues of nanotechnology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of television on the evolution of social relationships and culture. According to the author, among all the media introduced in the society, television has succeeded in creating a kind of community. A German television preacher has once commented that television offers the best opportunity to channel his desires to be among the people and form a community. The author stressed that television has indeed a power to unite the nation in front of the screen and to create a standardized audience.

The article discusses the study on socio-digital formations. According to the author of the study, one of the distinctive capabilities of computer-centered technologies is the rescaling of social relations and domains. The operations that are originally developed for local scales can now move to global scales. Global relations and domains, on the other hand, become directly articulated with local settings. The author stressed that the study aims to address two of the challenges the Social Science Research Council's computer-centered technologies initiative faced since its launching in 2000.

The paper reviews several evolutionary theories of technological change, gathering them in two groups: (a) historical and philosophical; (b) economic. The goal is to determine and analyze the philosophical issues, themes and vocabulary common to such theories. These theories are contrasted with the pseudo-evolutionary and social-constructivist theories. The study moves from deterministic, linear evolutionary theories, to the bi-directional and multi-linear evolutionary theories. An analogy between technological change and the theory of evolution is established. Based on this revision, the paper upholds an evolutionary theory of technological change denominated the Third Way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the impact of inner structures of science on the whole system of relationships in human civilization. Elevation of importance of technology on the human environment; Growth of human dependence on technologies; Evolution of technological humanity.

The article discusses the concept of techno-pessimism which refers to a belief that scientific and technological advances affect the balance in the relationship between society and nature. Topics discussed include the belief that scientific and technological advances are the source of many problems of modern social development, some of the followers of techno-pessimism and human-caused disasters and terrorist attacks that increased the influence of techno-pessimistic mood.