The story of the mammoth projects— SAGE, ICBM, ARPANET/Internet, and Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel— that created new styles of manage- ment, new forms of organization, and a new vision of technology FPT $28.50 U.S.A, $40.00 Can. n his farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the dan- gers posed by the “military-industrial-univer- E E sity complex.” His warning became a rallying — cry of liberal dissent and. for some, this part- nership became the most ominous aspect of what came to be known as the “establishment.” Rescuing Prometheus presents a radi- cally different view of the alliances behind the large-scale technological and scientific under- takings of the post-World War II era. In his y analysis of the accomplishments of this coali- r a tion, Thomas Hughes shows how aerospace. r b i computing, and communications were revolu- L tionized. He explains how the design and c i development of four projects in particular led l b to a new understanding of technology: The u P SAGE air-defense project fostered the first n interactive, digital computer designed for o t information processing; the Atlas interconti- s o nental ballistic missile project inspired a new B form of management known as systems engi- neering: the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project addressed the complex relations between industry, science, and grassroots community interests; and ARPANET. the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, would not only create the information superhighway but also develop the collegial, meritocratic management style now prevalent in the computer software industry. Rescuing Prometheus is an eye-opening revisionist history of technology in our time. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 Rescuing Prometheus American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm Elmer Sperry: Inventor and Engineer Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 4 Lewis Mumford: Public Intellectual (with Agatha Hughes) Rescuing Prometheus prstsetntne Thomas P. Hughes——R~ 5 LN esas tas oe Paneer Mell NI TI Pantheon Books * New York Copyright © 1998 by Thomas P. Hughes All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a divi- sion of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material: Aviation Week & Space Technology: Excerpts from “Human vs. Hardware” by Dean S. Warren (Aviation Week & Space Technology, June 7, 1971, p. 63). Reprinted by permission of Aviation Week & Space Technology. - The New York Times: Excerpt from “Man in the News” (The New York Times, December 1957). Copyright © 1957 by the New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission of The New York Times. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hughes, Thomas Parke. Rescuing Prometheus / Thomas P. Hughes. p- cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-679-41151-8 1. Research, Industrial—United States. 2. Technology—United States—History—zoth century. 3. Technology—Social aspects— United States. 4. Science and industry—United States. I. Title. T176.H84 1998 303.48'3—dea1 97-4457! cIP Random House Web Address: http://www.randomhouse.com Book design by Fritz Metsch Printed in the United States of America First Edition 987654321 .H84 |