Authors:
Along the way, you will consider
If the human race can survive without fossil fuels
If we can decarbonize completely
If we can stabilize the global climate before it is too late
If solar and wind power alone can be self-sufficient
If we will need conventional nuclear power
If our descendants in 2120 will have thermonuclear fusion
If our descendants in 2120 will ride in private automobiles
If nuclear families will live in private suburban houses
If there is a viable technological strategy to recovering biological diversity
What technologies can protect us from future mutant viruses
If artificial intelligence will permit robots to become our future masters
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Table of contents (27 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Before the Industrial Revolution
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Front Matter
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The Age of Fossile Fuels
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Front Matter
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Information Age
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Front Matter
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About this book
If we count electricity and the automobile as a second industrial revolution, and the digital computer as the beginning of a third, the world is now on the cusp of a fourth revolution led by microbiology. These industrial revolutions have benefited many in the short term, but devastated the Earth’s ecosystems. Can technology save the human race from the catastrophic consequences of its past success? That is the question this book will try to answer.
Authors and Affiliations
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Emeritus Professor of Economics, Political Science, Technology Management, Novartis Chair Emeritus, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France
Robert U. Ayres
About the author
He joined INSEAD in 1992, becoming the first Sandoz (now Novartis) Chair of Management and the Environment, as well as the founder of CMER, Center for the Management of Environmental Resources. He directed CMER from 1992-2000. Since retirement he has been a visiting professor at Chalmers Institute of Technology in Sweden (where he was also a King's Professor) and Institute Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. He remains active, producing publications on topics ranging from Industrial Metabolism and Industrial Ecology, through Environmental Policy and Environmental Economics, to Energy. Professor Ayres is the author or coauthor of 21 books, most recently including The Economic Growth Engine (2009, with Benjamin Warr), Crossing the Energy Divide (2009, with Edward Ayres) and Bubble Economy (2014), Energy, Complexity and Wealth Maximization (2018) and “On Capitalism and Inequality” (2020).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The History and Future of Technology
Book Subtitle: Can Technology Save Humanity from Extinction?
Authors: Robert U. Ayres
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71393-5
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-71392-8Published: 28 July 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-71395-9Published: 29 July 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-71393-5Published: 27 July 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 830
Number of Illustrations: 69 b/w illustrations, 217 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Technology, Applied and Technical Physics, Natural Resource and Energy Economics