Architect or Bee?: The Human / Technology Relationship

by Mike Cooley, David F. Noble (Introduction)

Cooley urges us to take another look at this thing called progress, to strip away the technological jargon, and to penetrate the ideological haze that clouds our view.

Genres: Sociology

134 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 1999

About the author

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Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

cooley makes the argument that the deskilling process that had triumphed in taylorism at the beginning of the 20th century is now being applied to intellectual work as well. his particular point of view is is an industrial designer but any programmer can probably recognize the gradual degradation of his or her craft into a series of rote steps involving unquestioning application of unit tests, mechanical code re-use, gamification of progress, etc. i think that his case is still overstated however, at least at the really high levels where actual innovative design is still required and encouraged by preserving a pre-taylorist respect for the worker and his professionalism.

also cooley sets up a dichotomy (not sure if thats the right word) between the 'intuitive' knowledge of workers and the 'book learning' of professionals, and claims that capitalism favors the less effective, less flexible book learning to the Real Knowing of being able to Tap Something And Feel What's Wrong. this is a bit too much for me. i don't really want someone tapping a jet engine and listening to it and going 'ah yes the fuel line's out' i actually want a series of definable, scientific steps which are carried out by a professional using intuition and the absolute latest bleeding-edge knowledge and equipment. combining work with the most lavish book learning possible seems like a better idea than trusting one over the other.

still very good. the demand for useful work (which he spends most of the book discussing) is even more important today than it was in cooley's time (early 80s)

[1.1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely still alarming, even more than 30 years after its first publication.

Did we go down the wrong path? Are the author's fears justified? The mindlessness of progress takes quite a bit of critiquing, which is good, as progress should not be mindless. The feeling is that things have not gotten better. The lofty aims of the author and the Lucas Corporate Plan were ultimately not highly successful, but they are a glimpse of how industry could serve the public and the worker simultaneously. Though I suppose we all know how that's gone. Do the machines work with us or do they work on us?

Plenty of food for thought. Could easily be dismissed as unionist/leftist rubbish by the type of people you'd expect. The edition I read could have used some editing, also, but the odd typo or repetition didn't make the point any weaker. Not the most thrilling read, but I like anything that questions prevailing ideologies, so I quite enjoyed it.