Silicon Valley is a unique place in a unique moment of time. To say that it exists within history seems obvious; what might be less apparent is that Silicon Valley also has come to define both the practice and the subject of history. History and the exciting technologies born and bred in Silicon Valley are intimately linked. These ties were highlighted in a remarkable series of events and presentations sponsored by the Center for Science, Technology, and Society (CSTS) in October 2001. This issue of STS NEXUS captures the insights of those presentations

Molony, Barbara

English

Scholar Commons - Santa Clara University

Santa Clara UniversityScholar CommonsHistory College of Arts & SciencesSpring 2002Historical Perspectives on Technology and SocietyBarbara MolonySanta Clara University, bmolony@scu.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historyThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts & Sciences at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion inHistory by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact rscroggin@scu.edu.Recommended CitationMolony, B. (2002). Historical Perspectives on Technology and Society. In STS NEXUS 2(2).Santa Clara University - Center for Science, Technology & Society -Historical Perspectives on Technology and Society: Overview of this Issue of STS NEXUShttps://web.archive.org/web/20150910064203/http://www.scu.edu/sts/nexus/2.2spring2002/IssueOverview.cfm[8/18/2017 2:17:12 PM]SCU Home Prospective Students Current Students Alumni Faculty & Staff Visitors Family Support SCU SCU LoginWELCOMEAbout UsActivity AreasProgramsAcademicsScholarshipCSTS News & MediaCSTS NewsDonateHistorical Perspectives onTechnology and Society: Overviewof this Issue of STS NEXUS Barbara MolonySilicon Valley is a unique place in a unique moment of time. To say that itexists within history seems obvious; what might be less apparent is thatSilicon Valley also has come to define both the prac­tice and the subjectof history.  History and the excit­ing technologies born and bred in SiliconValley are intimately linked. These ties were highlighted in a remarkableseries of events and presentations spon­sored by the Center for Science,Technology, and So­ciety (CSTS) in October 2001. This issue of STSNEXUS captures the insights of those presentations.History is both the foundation for the present and future as well as thestudy of that foundation. History defines and preserves the significance ofna­tions and the legacies of cultures. Our identities as societies are tied toour artifacts and to our interpre­tation of the cultural record theyembody.  But his­tory is more than about objects; it is also about thepeople whose choices affect the options we as a soci­ety have in thepresent and future. When brilliant minds began to cluster in Silicon Valley ahalf cen­tury ago, they created not only the engine of produc­tivity thatcommands our attention in the here and now, but they also intertwined thefate of this Valley with Clio, history’s fabled muse.What could Silicon Valley have to do with history? Silicon Valley is dynamicdiscovery, devel­opment, and marketing. It enthusiastically embraces thefuture, perhaps so much so that cautious voices have begun to expressconcern about the obsolescence of storage technologies that carry ourpresent culture much as paper documents and Rosetta stones preservedand honored our ancestors’ cultures.The articles in this issue of the STS NEXUS emphatically claim thattechnology very much mat­ters to history and history to technology.  AndSilicon Valley, the technology story of the last half-century, has affectedhistory in ways that have just begun to be perceived. Stuart Leslie’s articleintroduces the issue by connecting the booming scholarly field of thehis­tory of technology to the tremendous implications of Silicon Valleytechnology for the practice of history and for what will become its content.Leslie is the Secretary of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT),which held its last annual conference in the heart of Silicon Valley.  Leslieskillfully weaves the trends in the history of technology with theAbout the Author        Barbara MolonyThe Editor of this issue ofSTS NEXUS is BarbaraMolony, Professor ofHistory at Santa ClaraUniversity, where shejoined the faculty in 1981.Since then, she has beenthe co-Director of theInter­national BusinessProgram (1982-1988) andthe Women’s StudiesProgram (1996­present).Her first book, Technologyand Investment in thePrewar Japanese ChemicalIndustry (Harvard, 1990),exam­ined the social andeconomic implications oftechnology development inJapan’s his­toricalcontext. Her more recentpublica­tions haveaddressed, among othertop­ics, gender and thestructure of thework­place and gender-based employmentleg­islation. Hertechnological “claim tofame” is that her Ph.D.dissertation (in History andEast Asian Languages,1982) was alleged to beamong the first Ph.D.dissertations submitted toHarvard University to beSTS Nexus » STS Nexus 2.2 » Historical Perspectives on Technology and Society: Overview of this Issue ofSTS NEXUSABOUT SCU ADMISSION ACADEMICS ON CAMPUS NEWS & INFO ALUMNIJUN SEP O102010 2015 2018 captures21 Mar 2006 - 10 Sep 2015Santa Clara University - Center for Science, Technology & Society -Historical Perspectives on Technology and Society: Overview of this Issue of STS NEXUShttps://web.archive.org/web/20150910064203/http://www.scu.edu/sts/nexus/2.2spring2002/IssueOverview.cfm[8/18/2017 2:17:12 PM]scholar­ship presented at the SHOT Conference and with the deepermeanings of Silicon Valley technologies.  Leslie argues that our notion ofwhat counts as “history” is challenged by technology as history itselfbecomes a networked system; at the same time, those networks promiseto democratize history by gathering data on websites compiled by a widerange of individuals. Leslie also discusses the crucial linkages ofinforma­tion with the structure of the traditional nation-state, thedynamics of gender and technology, and the his­torical transformation ofthe environment through technology.Paul Ceruzzi of the Smithsonian Institution, and moderator of a stellarpanel of Silicon Valley founders, contributes the second article. The CSTSsponsored panel opened the SHOT Conference and highlighted the impactof choices made by presenters Doug Engelbart, Gordon Moore, and RegisMcKenna in driving the engine of Silicon Valley.  These three Silicon Valleypioneers came from other parts of the country, forming, with others, acluster of knowledge, skills, and the determination to create technologythat could lead to human progress. Santa Clara University business schoolprofessor Terri Griffith’s article dis­cusses a key question posed by theconversation among this distinguished panel. Was location important, andif so, why did creative minds congregate here to change the course ofhistory?Santa Clara University history professor Steven Gelber’s article on HaynesJohnson’s latest book, The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years,also draws insights from Johnson’s Santa Clara Uni­versity colloquiumintroducing his book. Gelber’s re­view comments on the book’s “replay” ofthe histori­cal role of Silicon Valley in its heyday in the 1990s. Johnsonand Gelber note that technology, particularly the Internet, helped to definethe 1990s, thus facilitat­ing Clio’s date with technology. Was this the bestof times, or were there lost opportunities?As part of the October 2001 events Thomas P. Hughes, one of the foundersof the field of the history of technology, was joined by his son, Lucian, anentre­preneur in information technology, for a fascinating dis­cussionabout parallels between the “high tech” inven-tor-entrepreneurs of theEdisonian era and their coun­terparts in Silicon Valley today.  Their pairedarticles focus on the ways in which thinkers with brilliant ideascommercialize their inventions. Thomas Hughes pos­its several stages inthe complex system of invention and innovation, and finds that as far asEdison and Sili­con Valley are concerned, there is “nothing new under thesun.” Luke Hughes generally agrees with these stages, but adds anessential modification for contem­porary Silicon Valley innovations.  WhileThomas shows that what he calls “reverse salients” (unanticipatedprob­lems that prevent the smooth implementation of new technologies)usually lead to more inventions to over­come those problems, Luke notesthat investors are also often intrigued by new technologies and inspired totake off in new directions even in the absence of technologi­cal reversesalients.Is Silicon Valley different?  Is it a special place? Will it continue to be one?How have history and tech­nology mutually informed each other? If, asThomas Hughes writes, historians can “project patterns takenfrom...analogies (between past and present) to envision future scenarios,”we face an exciting future indeed.writ­ten at a computerkeyboard rather than on anelectric typewriter.» Spring 2002» Historical Perspectives onTechnology and Society:Overview of this Issue ofSTS NEXUS» What History Can TeachUs About Technology andSociety» Silicon Valley, Innovation,and the History of ModernComputing: AConversation AmongDoug Engelbart, GordonMoore, and RegisMcKenna» Reflections on theEngelbart, Moore, andMcKenna Conversation:Does Location ReallyMatter?» Instant Replay: History inthe present tense ACommentary on HaynesJohnson’s The Best ofTimes» Nothing New Under theSun? A Comparison ofEdisonian and SiliconValley Startups» Nothing New Under theSun? Perhaps not, but allthat Sunlight has Createda Flourishing SystemSanta Clara University - Center for Science, Technology & Society -Historical Perspectives on Technology and Society: Overview of this Issue of STS NEXUShttps://web.archive.org/web/20150910064203/http://www.scu.edu/sts/nexus/2.2spring2002/IssueOverview.cfm[8/18/2017 2:17:12 PM]Home  Mobile  Campus Map  Directory  Site Index  Contact Us  Emergency Info  © 2014 SCU  500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053

Historical Perspectives on Technology and Society

https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1105&context=history

Historical Perspectives on Technology and Society

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Scholar Commons - Santa Clara University