The Nature of Technology Kap 8 Flashcards
Revolutions and Redomainings (10 cards)
What does Arthur mean by a domain of technology, and how does it differ from an individual technology?
A domain is a coherent family of devices, methods, and practices that crystallize around a shared set of phenomena or an enabling technology (e.g., “the digital domain”). Unlike a single invention, a domain is not “invented” by one actor; it emerges organically over decades, involves many contributors, and reshapes whole economic sectors rather than a single production step.
Outline the typical life‑cycle stages through which a technology domain passes according to Arthur.
1. Genesis – loosely connected cluster spun out of a parent field.
2. Early experimentation – hybrid uses and auxiliary roles; little identity.
3. Breakthrough/Enabling technology – a key advance solves “reverse salients” and makes the field viable (e.g., recombinant DNA in gene tech).
4. Adolescence & frenzy – influx of pioneers, startups, media hype, and often an investment mania or crash.
5. Maturity/build‑out – consolidation, steady growth, large firms, deep economic embedding.
6. Old age or morphing – domain either plateaus into infrastructure or repeatedly reinvents itself via new applications.
What are “reverse salients,” and why are they important in the evolution of a domain?
Reverse salients are bottleneck components or “stuck places” whose poor performance limits overall progress. Because they hold the field back, they attract concentrated research effort; overcoming them often precipitates the enabling breakthrough that propels the domain into rapid expansion.
Give an example of an enabling technology and explain how it transformed its nascent field.
Recombinant‑DNA methods developed by Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer (1973) let scientists cut genes from one organism and splice them into bacterial plasmids, turning bacteria into protein “factories.” This single capability solved two core limitations—gene transfer and protein manufacture—launching genetic engineering from biology offshoot to commercial biotech industry.
How can the adolescent phase of a domain lead to economic bubbles, and what historical example does Arthur give?
Surging expectations and limited “space” for profitable projects fuel speculative investment manias; when reality lags, share prices collapse. Arthur cites Britain’s railway mania (1840s): frenzied line charters, alley‑man scrip, then the 1847 “Week of Terror,” in which railway shares lost ~85 % and banks failed.
Explain redomaining with the example of banking’s encounter with digital computation.
Industries do not simply “adopt” a body of technology; they encounter it, merging some of their own processes with functionalities drawn from the new domain. When banking met computing, bookkeeping procedures combined with data‑processing algorithms to create digitized accounting and later spawned entire sub‑industries such as algorithmic derivatives trading and financial risk management.
Why do major technological revolutions take decades to deliver full economic impact?
Beyond adoption, the economy must re‑architect itself—physical layouts, business processes, skills, regulations, finance—to exploit the new domain, while the domain adapts with supportive components and theory. Example: although electric motors existed in the 1880s, U.S. factories needed ~40 years to redesign floor layouts and practices before productivity gains materialized
What is deep craft and how does it explain the geographical concentration of high‑tech innovation?
Deep craft is the tacit, shared know‑how—“mysteries of the trade”—accumulated through local experimentation (knowing which parameters matter, whom to consult, how to debug). It resides in micro‑cultures (firms, labs, corridors), spreads by informal exchange, and produces increasing returns: regions strong in a domain (e.g., Silicon Valley, Cavendish Lab) attract more talent and investment, reinforcing their lead.
Arthur identifies two overarching themes of innovation. What are they?
1. Continuous recombination – solving concrete problems by assembling new combinations from existing “toolboxes” of parts and practices.
2. Encounter‑driven transformation – whole industries repeatedly merging their processes with functionalities from newly emerging domains, creating novel arrangements across the economy.
Distinguish Arthur’s notions of fast‑time and slow‑time in the economy.
Fast‑time is paced by the design, testing, and market uptake of individual technologies (months to a few years).
Slow‑time is governed by the emergence and diffusion of bodies of technology, which reshape industrial structures and social arrangements over decades. Structural change itself “creates” economic time on these two nested scales
