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lukeprog comments on April 2013 Media Thread - Less Wrong Discussion

7 Post author: ArisKatsaris 04 April 2013 10:55PM

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Comment author: lukeprog 26 April 2013 07:19:16PM 2 points [-]

Collins & Pinch, The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology.

One quote from the preface:

The personality of science is neither that of a chivalrous knight nor pitiless juggernaut. What, then, is science? Science is a golem.

A golem is a creature of Jewish mythology. It is a humanoid made by man from clay and water, with incantations and spells. It is powerful. It grows a little more powerful every day. It will follow orders, do your work, and protect you from the ever threatening enemy. But it is clumsy and dangerous. Without control a golem may destroy its masters with its flailing vigour; it is a lumbering fool who knows neither his own strength nor the extent of his clumsiness and ignorance.

(Actually, this passage is merely quoted from their previous book, The Golem: What You Should Know About Science.)