The triumph of technology - Alec Broers

The Triumph of Technology is taken from Lord Alec Broers' 2005 BBC Reith Lectures on the role and importance of technology in our lives. The lectures discuss the way technology has shaped life since the beginnings of civilization, explaining how we owe to technologists most of what drives our world today, how technologies develop, and the excitement of the modern creative process. There are some who believe that technology's future development should be controlled, and that it may already have gone too far, especially in areas such as the use of energy - something which has the potential to permanently harm our environment. Alec Broers argues that although we need to understand such dangers, and use technology wisely, it can improve our lives - that we must look to technology to solve many of the problems that threaten our planet. Included here are the complete lectures plus a new introduction and conclusion.

Lord Broers is President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. He spent nineteen years in the research and development laboratories of IBM in the USA and then twenty years at Cambridge University as Professor of Electrical Engineering, Master of Churchill College, Head of the Engineering Department, and Vice-Chancellor. In his research at Cambridge and at IBM, he pioneered the use of electron beams to write the patterns for silicon chips.

'Lord Broers' lectures illustrated his unwavering passion for technology. He has opened up the discussion; the focus should now be on changing attitudes towards technology and the engineering profession. It's about the present and the future. Experience and experimentation, not repetition and rigid rules.'
James Dyson, inventor and engineer

'Alec Broers' Reith Lectures are masterful. He has addressed critical issues in a considered and accessible way. They deserve to be read by 'movers and shakers' and the general public alike.'
Tom Everhart, President Emeritus of Caltech

'… the emergence of a successful technological sector where innovators, whether foreign-born or home-bred, are regarded as heroes and role-models rather than geeks and nerds would make a huge contribution to persuading succeeding generations that an appreciation of science and technology is central to a well-balanced education and, as Lord Broers would have it: 'worthy of embrace'.' Alan Cane, The Financial Times

'Lord Broers … knows what he is talking about. Moreover, his argument is both true and important.'
David Sexton, The Sunday Telegraph

'… it covers how technology has been fundamental in changing society, how the development of technology occurred and what the future holds.' Cambridge