A philosophical examination of technology's growing influence. This pioneering collection explores the relationship between technology and free will. Rejecting the notion of technology as a neutral addition to our lives, the contributors examine the type and degree of our society's technological dependence. Technology is revealed as something from which we have, and will continue to have, difficulty separating ourselves, both as individuals and as a society. Without articulating a purely deterministic perspective, this collection illuminates the powerful influence technology has on our world...

This book offers the first comparative account of the changes and stabilities of public perceptions of science within the US, France, China, Japan, and across Europe over the past few decades. The contributors address the influence of cultural factors; the question of science and religion and its influence on particular developments (e.g. stem cell research); and the demarcation of science from non-science as well as issues including the 'incommensurability' versus 'cognitive polyphasia' and the cognitive (in)tolerance of different systems of knowledge.