Penn Calendar Penn A-Z School of Arts and Sciences University of Pennsylvania

EMERGENT TECHNOLOGY - Making Technologies Emerge: Commercialized Military Power Since 1945

Thursday, February 16, 2023 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Perry World House, 3803 Locust Walk

Read an essay by MELISSA FLAGG here.
Read an essay by REBECCA SLAYTON here.

A panel discussion with MELISSA FLAGG (Perry World House Fellow) and REBECCA SLAYTON (Cornell), moderated by SUSAN LINDEE (University of Pennsylvania).

FOR CENTURIES, WARFARE HAS BEEN A SPUR TO TECHNOLOGICAL innovations that have spilled over into civilian use, often with great benefits to society at large. The breakthrough technologies of World War II, and the continued high level of funding for military research that followed, accelerated this process, profoundly shaping our current lives. But the effects run in the other direction as well: as technologies are disseminated and transformed through commercial use, it creates new threats and opportunities for military operations. Our panelists explore both how the military can more effectively incubate new technologies and the implications, in arenas such as cyber, of losing its monopoly on their use.