Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

144 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
isolated elements; and, use as large a “fair sampling” as possible to ensure study
of the right elements. 37
Mazlish concluded with fve generalizations:
1. Beware simplistic conclusions. “all social inventions are part and parcel
of a complex—and have complex results. thus, they must be studied in
multivariate fashion.”
2. there are usually alternate technological approaches to attain economic
goals.
3. “all social inventions will aid some areas and developments, but will
blight others.”
4. “all social inventions develop in stages and have diferent efects during
diferent parts of their development.”
5. “all social inventions take place within a national ‘style,’ which strongly
afects both their emergence and their impact.” 38
these generalizations have held up well, though often are not heeded.
Simplistic comparisons abound today, especially in the political arena.
particularly neglected in both historical and contemporary analyses is “asset
and liability bookkeeping,” including paths not taken. economic historians
have proved best at constructing such alternative realities.
Building on an excellent overview of the early decades of american
railroad technology, thomas p. hughes provided more comparative analysis
than the other papers, including a compelling defnition that encompassed
the railroad, space program, and many other areas: “Wherever and whenever
nature in her nonanimal manifestations frustrates man in the pursuit of his
objectives, there exists a technological frontier.” 39
Space exploration surely satisfes the “most extreme result of technological
frontier penetration is the creation of a man-made environment and the rendering
of nature imperceptible.” 40 But nature in the form of a hostile environment is
not imperceptible; rather, it is held at bay to the point that robotic probes can
be sent on decades-long missions.
hughes noted that one challenge of engineers is to compromise economically
with nature, to solve problems in ways that are technologically but also
fnancially feasible. 41 the importance of economics in shaping the trajectory
37 . Ibid, pp.18-20. the preferred word for multi-causal, complex explanations was “multivariate,”
showing historians can be as trendy as any other group.
38 . Ibid, pp. 34-35.
39 . thomas p. hughes, “a technological Frontier: the railway,” in Bruce Mazlish, ed. The Railroad and
the Space Program. An Exploration in Historical Analogy (Cambridge, Ma: MIt press,
1965), p. 53.
40 . Ibid.
41 . Ibid, p. 55.