Man's making of the complex modern world is an appropriate subject for the twentieth-century historian. Creation of the material environment shaped by -- and shaping -- mankind is not a peripheral subject that can be left to narrow specialists. To direct attention today to technological affairs is to focus on a concern that is as central now as nation building and constitution making were a century ago. Technological affairs contain a rich texture of technical matters, scientific laws, economic principles, political forces, and social concerns. The historian must take the broad perspective to get to the root of things and to see the patterns. Scientists and engineers analyze the technical systems they build, but historians are needed to comprehend the complex, multifaceted relations of these systems and the changes that take place in them over time.
“Electric power systems demanded of their designers, operators, and managers a feel for the purposeful manipulation of things, intellect for the rational analysis of their nature and dynamics, and an ability to deal with the messy economic, political, and social vitality of the production systems that embody the complex objectives of modern men and women. ”
Networks of Power
in Quotes
