The Golem at large: what you should know about technology [Book Reviews]

This is an important book that should be read by everyone concerned with the evolution of the software industry and its market structure. The book is repetitive in parts, and the appendices on economic growth theory and applicability to “hard tools” are too short for the uninitiated to grasp easily. All the same, the book provides an exciting new approach to understanding the special nature and potential of software in the evolution of technology. The golem, in Jewish legend, was a humanoid created by cabalistic ritual in medieval Prague. A useful servant, the golem was dangerous if uncontrolled, unaware of its powers, a bit daft. It serves as a metaphor for science and technology. The authors, science critics writing from a social science perspective, present seven case studies that illustrate their views about how science and technology work. Five of the studies concern ambiguous scientific or engineering data—for example, one focuses on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the Patriot missile in the Persian Gulf War, another on the safety of the seals in the booster rocket of the space shuttle Challenger just before its tragic launch. Other chapters examine disputes about the interpretation of crash tests of containers for shipping nuclear waste, the failure of computer models to predict economic trends, and arguments over an unorthodox theory about the origin of oil. The final two studies involve conflicts between scientific experts and lay groups: conflicts between medical researchers and gay activists about clinical trials of AIDS drugs, and between scientists and sheep farmers in Britain about how to prevent contamination of mutton from Chernobyl fallout.