The Interplay of People and Technologies

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Histories of Innovation are prototypical success stories. The
advent of the wheel, of writing, printing, the steam engine or
computers: where would we be without these path-breaking
technological innovations and their global consequences? At least
retrospectively, innovations appear as linear, straightforward
processes. However, this view is too simplistic. Innovations are
not self-evident new elements of life but meet social and
technological resistance. In accounts of past innovations, we
also often forget that their price is always an irremediable loss
of knowledge and practical skills. This collection of essays
shows that innovations, both ancient and more recent ones, are
located in a network of pre-existing life-worlds. The authors
elucidate the wide and often unrecognized impacts of innovations
on social structures and cultural practices. Case studies from
ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, central Europe and the modern world
highlight the preconditions and oft-ignored secondary effects of
innovation. They address the complex social negotiations and the
multitude of unforeseen and unplanned changes which accompany the
New, rather than focusing on intended changes, which are usually
understood as improvements and ways to broaden possibilities for
action. Our ultimate goal is to investigate the complex
entanglements of innovations in past and present worlds and
deepen our understanding of mechanisms of cultural change.--- In
der Reihe BERLIN STUDIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD erscheinen
Monographien und Sammelbände aller altertumswissenschaftlichen
Disziplinen. Die Publikationen gehen aus der Arbeit des
Exzellenzclusters "Topoi. The Formation and Transformation of
Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations" hervor, einem
Forschungsverbund der Freien Universität Berlin und der Humboldt-
Universität zu Berlin sowie den Partnerinstitutionen Berlin-
Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Deutsches
Archäologisches Institut, Max-Planck- Institut für
Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
Die Reihe ist Bestandteil der Publikationsplattform Edition
Topoi. Alle Bände der Reihe sind elektronisch unter www.edition-topoi.org verfügbar.