 From societal fragility to sustainable robustness: Some tentative technology trajectoriesLindsay J. Robertson Technology in Society, 2010, vol. 32, issue 4, 342-351 Abstract: Centralization of production has allowed great increases to efficiency, and specialization has allowed advances that would otherwise be almost impossible. But centralized production leads to long supply lines, and specialization causes decreased accessibility of alternatives; together these increase the consumers’ vulnerability to disruption of access to essential goods and services. Assessing these vulnerabilities and making at least preliminary proposals for amelioration, is a topic of this paper. Initially, the functional needs of individuals are reviewed and classified. The paper then reviews and attempts to quantify the vulnerabilities associated with present approaches to meeting those needs. Having identified both specific vulnerabilities, and common factors associated with vulnerability, the paper then considers some general principles for increasing technological and social robustness. With vulnerabilities and indicative principles for improved robustness identified, some coarse but illustrative technology trajectories are proposed. Keywords: Technology; Robust; Fragile; Dependence; Supply-chain; Capability; Vulnerability; Roadmap; Society; Collapse (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:32:y:2010:i:4:p:342-351 DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2010.10.012 Access Statistics for this article Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier |
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