"The internal social system of the atom bomb must be authoritarian; there is no other way." #readingToday

The title of an influential essay on the role of technology in society asked the question: "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" According to its author, Langdon Winner, the answer is yes— the things that we produce are not only shaped by social forces, they also help to mold the political life of a society. Some technologies are flexible and can thrive equally well in democratic or totalitarian countries. But Winner pointed to one invention that could never be managed with a completely open, democratic spirit: the atomic bomb. "As long as it exists at all, its lethal properties demand that it be controlled by a centralized, rigidly hierarchical chain of command closed to all influences that might make its workings unpredictable," Winner wrote. "The internal social system of the bomb must be authoritarian; there is no other way."

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Incident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric's Schlosser