Paper info

The importance of history - Technological development of existing technological systems

Tim Torvatn

The paper was published at the 17th IMP-conference in Oslo, Norway in 2001.

The main argument forwarded in this article is that the history of development of atechnological system matters because it decides what steps are possible for the nextphase of development. The history can be read from the ways in which centralresources of the system interface with each other, and with other resources linked tothe system. Since this interaction is not random, but instead systematically created bythe involved actors, it tends to preclude some lines of development and emphasiseothers. It is in this way that certain avenues for development open, whereas othersclose. However, since the nature of development work is uncertainty, we can notknow in advance which avenues will open and which will close. This understandingcan only be reached when looking back at what has happened so far, by looking at thehistory of the system and the memory traces which exist within it.