Underlying the current dynamics of technological developments, their
divergence or convergence and the abundance of options, promises and
risks they contain, is the quest for innovation, the contributors to
this volume argue. The seemingly insatiable demand for novelty coincides
with the rise of modern science and the onset of modernity in Western
societies. Never before has the Baconian dream been so close to becoming
reality: wrapped into a globalizing capitalism that seeks ever expanding
markets for new products, artifacts and designs and new processes that
lead to gains in efficiency, productivity and profit. However,
approaching these developments through a wider historical and cultural
perspectives, means to raise questions about the plurality of cultures,
the interaction between "hardware" and "software" and about the nature
of the interfaces where technology meets with economic, social, legal,
historical constraints and opportunities. The authors come to the
conclusion that inside a seemingly homogenous package and a seemingly
universal quest for innovation many differences remain.